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Hiotographic 

Sciences 
Corporation 


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23  WES>   .VMN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  14580 

(716)  872-4503 


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CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/ICIVIH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes/Notes  techniques  et  bibliographiques 


The  Institute  has  attempted  to  obtain  the  best 
original  copy  available  for  filming.  Features  of  this 
copy  which  may  be  bibliographically  unique, 
which  may  alter  any  of  the  images  in  the 
reproduction,  or  which  may  significantly  change 
the  usual  method  of  filming,  are  checlted  below. 


r~T1    Coloured  covers/ 
LiJ    Couverture  de  couleur 


I      I    Covers  damaged/ 


Couverture  endommagde 


□    Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  restaurde  et/ou  pelliculde 


I      I    Cover  title  missing/ 


D 
D 


D 


D 


Le  titre  de  couverture  manque 

Coloured  maps/ 

Cartes  gdographiques  en  couleur 

Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)/ 
Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 

Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations/ 
Planches  et/ou  illustrations  en  couleur 


Bound  with  other  material/ 
Relid  avec  d'autres  documents 

Tight  binding  may  cause  shadows  or  distortion 
along  interior  margin/ 

La  re  liure  serr^e  peut  causer  de  I'ombre  ou  de  la 
distortion  le  long  de  la  marge  int^rieure 

Blank  leaves  added  during  restoration  may 
appear  within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these 
have  been  omitted  from  filming/ 
II  se  peut  que  certaines  pages  blanches  ajoutdes 
lors  d'une  restauration  apparaissent  dans  le  texte, 
mais,  lorsque  cela  dtait  possible,  ces  pages  n'ont 
pas  6ti  filmtes. 

Additional  comments:/ 
Commentaires  suppidmenisires; 


L'Institut  a  microfilm^  le  meilleur  exemplaire 
qu'il  lui  a  6t6  possible  de  sa  procurer.  Les  details 
de  cet  exemplaire  qui  sont  peut-dtre  uniques  du 
point  de  vue  bibliographique,  qui  peuvent  modifier 
une  image  reproduite,  ou  qui  peuvent  axiger  une 
modification  dans  la  methods  normale  de  filmage 
sont  indiquto  ci-dessous. 


□   Coloured  pages/ 
Pages  de  couleur 


n 
n 


Pages  damaged/ 
Pages  endommag^es 

Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Pages  restaur^es  et/ou  pellicul^es 

Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 
Pages  d6color6es,  tachetdes  ou  piqudes 

Pages  detached/ 
Pages  d^tachdes 

Showthrough/ 
Transparence 


I      I    Quality  of  print  varies/ 


Quality  in^gale  de  I'impression 

Includes  supplementary  material/ 
Comprend  du  materiel  suppl^mentaire 


Only  edition  available/ 
Seule  Edition  disponible 

Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata 
slips,  tissues,  etc.,  have  been  refilmed  to 
ensure  the  best  possible  image/ 
Les  pages  totalement  ou  partiellement 
obscurcies  par  un  feuillet  d'errata,  une  pelure, 
etc.,  ont  6t6  filmies  d  nouveau  de  fapon  d 
obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 


Tl 
to 


Tl 

P< 

01 
fil 


Oi 
b( 
th 

si( 
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fir 
sit 
or 


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Til 
wl 

Ml 
dil 

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be 
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This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  filmA  au  taux  de  reduction  indiqud  ci-dessous 

10X                             14X                             18X                             22X 

26X 

30X 

/ 

12X 

16X 

20X 

24X 

28X 

32X 

Th«  copy  fllmsd  h«r«  has  bMn  raproducad  thanks 
to  tha  ganarosity  of: 

Library  Division 

Provincial  Archives  of  British  Columbia 

Tha  imagas  appaaring  hara  ara  tha  bast  quality 
possibia  considaring  tha  condition  and  lagibility 
of  tha  original  copy  and  in  kaaping  with  tha 
filming  contract  spacifications. 


Original  copias  in  printad  papar  covers  are  filmed 
beginning  with  the  front  cover  and  ending  on 
the  last  page  with  a  printad  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, or  the  back  cover  when  appropriate.  All 
other  original  copies  are  filmed  beginning  on  the 
first  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, and  ending  on  the  last  page  with  a  printad 
or  illustrated  impression. 


The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  the  symbol  — ^>  (meaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  the  symbol  V  (meaning  "END"), 
whichever  applies. 

Maps,  plates,  charts,  etc.,  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  exposure  ara  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


L'exemplaira  film*  fut  reproduit  grice  A  la 
gAnArositA  da: 

Library  0>vision 

Provincial  Archives  of  British  Columbia 

Las  images  suivantas  ont  *t4  reproduites  avac  le 
plus  grand  soin.  compta  tenu  de  la  condition  at 
da  la  nettetA  de  l'exemplaira  film*,  at  en 
conformity  avac  las  conditions  du  contrat  da 
filmage. 

Les  exemplairas  originaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  est  ImprimAe  sont  filmAs  en  commen^ant 
par  le  premier  plat  at  en  terminant  soit  par  la 
darnlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration,  soit  par  le  second 
plat,  salon  la  cas.  Tous  las  autres  exemplairas 
originaux  sont  filmte  an  commanfant  par  la 
pramiAre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration  at  en  terminant  par 
la  darniire  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 

Un  des  symboles  suivants  apparaitra  sur  la 
derniAre  image  da  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbols  — »>  signifie  "A  SUIVRE' .  le 
symbols  V  signifie  "FIN  ". 

Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  Atre 
filmAs  A  des  taux  de  reduction  diffArents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  Atre 
reproduit  en  un  seul  clich*,  il  est  film«  A  psrtir 
de  I'angia  supArieur  gauche,  de  gauche  A  droite, 
et  de  haut  en  bas,  en  prenant  la  nombre 
d'imagas  nicessaira.  Las  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrent  la  mAthode. 


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2 

3 

1 

2 

3 

4 

6 

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PRICE,    2S    CENTS 


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LECTURE 


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AND  TOK 


^titit   ©oai^t^ 


BY    W.    L.    ADAMS. 

Delirend  U  Tnaoit  T«npl«,  Boitoi,  October  14,  1869. 


BOSTON: 
ISAAC  W.  MAY,  PRINTER,  39  STATE  STREET. 

186  9.        *  ^ 


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CoUectio/v 


L  E  C  1^  U  li  E 


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0  si  ^  t  ♦ 


BY    W  .    L .    ADAMS- 

Heliverfd  in  Tremunt  Ttmple.  Bostoo,  (klolier  U,  18til«. 


BOS  T  0 N : 
ISAAC  W.  MAY,  I'H INTER  .{'.>  STATE  STREET. 

*  1861). 


HVJp 
97§-S 

A2.I3 


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i 


LECTURE. 


Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

The  territory  belonging  to  the  United  States,  west  of 
the  Rocky  Mountains  is  but  Httle  understood  by  a  large 
majority  of  the  people  on  this  side  of  the  Continent. 
Although  it  has  an  area  of  356.600  square  miles  more 
than  have  the  tweny-live  States  and  District  of  Co- 
lumbia east  of  the  Mississippi  river,  and  an  area  of 
66.898  square  miles  more  than  all  our  territory  be- 
tween the  Mississippi  and  the  Rocky  Mountains;  and 
an  intrinsic  value  in  excess  of  all  the  wealth  of  the 
whole  Atlantic  slope,  yet  I  find  but  few  people  who 
know  much  more  about  this  country  than  they  know 
of  China. 

Our  Pilgrim  Fathers  were  pleased  to  inform  their 
Trans-Atlantic  relatives,  that  they  had  found  and  set- 
tled a  "  New  World, "  a  country  every  way  different , 
and  possessing  superior  advantages  over  the  land  from 
which  they  fled.  It  was  left  for  their  children  to  ex- 
plore and  possess  a  country,  so  remarkable  in  all  its 
natural  characteristics,  and  so  different  from  any  our 
fathers  ever  saw,  it  seemed  to  me  when  first  I  saw  it, 
that  I  had  indeed  found  a  New  World .  To  give  one 
who  has  not  lived  in  it,  travelled  over  it,  and  studied 
it  for  more  than  twenty  years,  as  I  have,  a  correct  idea 
of  it,  would  require  a  volume  of  many  hundred  pages. 


Do  not  •undeistauil  that  /  am  well  acquainted  with 
thi.s  country.  1  know  perhaps  as  much  about  it  aa 
most  ])e()ple  on  our  coast;  yet  1  know  as  little  of  it 
almost,  as  Newton  knew  of  the  realms  of  science,  when 
he  declared  that  he  was  but  a  child,  standiii'i'  on  the 
banks  of  an  illimitabh  ocean,  and  casting  ])ebl)les  into 
it,  knowing  nothing  of  its  depth,  or  of  the  countries 
that  skirted  its  farther  shores. 

It  embraces  an  area  of  1.300.404  square  miles,  which 
nniv  be  divided  up  into  ten  thousand  sections,  every 
section  of  which,  is  full  of  interest,  and  jiresents  to  the 
explorer  some  new  geological,  agricultural,  pastoral  or 
climatic  feature  or  advantage  ])eculiar  to  itself. 

To  <lescribe  one  section  of  Illinois,  is  to  describe  in 
the  main,  Indiana,  Iowa.  Missouri,  and  the  great  heart 
of  the  Mississi])pi  \'alley  To  draw  a  picture  of  oue 
man's  home  and  surroundings  on  the  Pacific  coast, might 
give  no  correct  idea  of  the  scenery,  soil,  climate,  min- 
eral, agricultural  or  pastoral  advantages  enjoyed  by  his 
neighbor,  living  on  the  slope  of  a  mountain,  far  a))ovo 
him,  or  in  some  rich  cosy  valley  far  below  him.  oidy  a 
few  miles  away.  Owing  to  the  mountainous  character 
of  the  countrv,  it  aflbrds  an  infinite  varietv  of  scenerv. 

A  man  standing  on  one  eminence,  sees  as  it  were  a 
different  country  from  him  who  occupies  a  hill  top  only 
half  a  mile  away,  or  even  from  him  who  stands  just 
over  on  the  other  side  of  the  same  hill  he  stands  on 
himself  How  much  could  a  man  be  supposed  to  know 
of  this  vast  country,  containing  almost  a  million  and 
a  half  of  square  miles,  when  /  never  take  my  rifle  in 
hand,  to  hunt  over  ground  in  sight  of  my  own  house, 
without  wandering  over  spots,  and  obtaining  views  I 
never  saw  before,  and  when  in  a  foggy  day  1  am  al- 
most sure  to  be  lost,  unless  1  am  guided  in  mv  course 
bv  some   nunmtain   stream — lost  on  an  area  of  onlva 


1 


few  miles  coiiipiiss.  over  wliich,  I  have  hvinted  for  nuiny 
years.  1  mention  this  to  shcnv  you  how  dithenlt  is  the 
task  of  one  who  attempts  to  ^ive  a  correet  idea  in  a 
short  lectnre  of  that  vast  and  interestini*'  country. 

1  nj'ght  make  sliort  work  of  it,  hy  telling"  yon  that 
the  people  who  live  over  there,  are  the  best  contented 
of  any  people  1  have  found  in  travelling  through 
North  and  South  America,  and  that  [  believe  every 
man,  in  Oregon  especially,  thinks  that  he  has  got  the 
best  farm  on  the  coast,  that  his  farm  possesses  some 
one  advantage  that  no  other  man's  farm  does.  I  might 
also  state,  that  those  who  have  lived  there  the  longest, 
like  it  the  best. 

The  hard  shell  Baptist  brother,  when  trying  to  de- 
scribe heaven  to  a  Kentucky  audience,  after  using  all 
the  adjectives  he  could  think  otl,  wound  up  by  telling 
them  it  was  ''A  perfect  Kaintuck  of  a  place."  (applause.) 
We  have  no  Heaven  on  our  coast,  for  it  is  a  part  of 
this  insignificant  little  planet  we  call  Earth.  I  should 
judge  however  from  wh.tt  1  saw  of  Kentucky  during 
a  late  journey  through  that  and  other  Southern  States, 
that  our  coast  is  rather  7nore  of  a  good  thing  than  a 
^'A  perfect  Kaintuck  of  a  place,"  and  tiiat  the  induce- 
ments that  Kentucky  or  any  other  Southern  State, 
otters  to  immigration,  are  hardly  worth  mentioning  in 
comparison  with  those  of  a  country  which,  in  a  few 
vears  is  to  astonish  the  world  with  its  greatness  and 
o-lory.  If  people  wish  to  emigrate,  as  hundreds  of 
thousands  do,  let  them  get  reliable  information  about 
the  South,  about  Kansas  and  Nebraska,  ami  about  the 
Pacific  Slope,  and  let  them  elect  between  these  coun- 
tries. The  popular  earthquake  however,  that  has 
be<>'un  to  shake  the  Continent,  is  rolling  an  iunnense 
tidal  wave  towards  the  setting  sun — to  a  spot  over 
which,  hovers  the  Star  of   Empire.     This  is  going   to 


prove  the  tide    in  the    afTairs  of    tens  of  thousands, 
which, ''  taken  at  the  tiood,  leads  on  to  fortune." 

In  Washiii^'ton  City  I  met  an  a*!:ent  of  tlie  immi- 
gration society  in  Nortli  Carolina.  Me  presented  the 
claims  of  his  State  in  glowing  colors,  and  wished  me  to 
go  to  North  Carolina.  I  told  him  of  the  sujierior  in- 
ducements held  out  hy  the  Pacific  Coast.  He  l)ecame 
a  convert  and  said  he  should  go  to  Oregon.  What  is 
true  of  him,  will  in  my  opinion  })e  true  of  nine-tenths 
of  all  intelligent  people,  who  become  informed  as  to 
the  best  place  to  settle  in. 

The  inducements  that  our  Coast  offers  to  settlers,  are 
as  diverse  as  are  the  peculiarities  of  its  ten  thousand 
localities,  as  various  as  are  the  tastes,  occupations  and 
aspirations  of  man.  A  section  that  would  ])lease  a 
grain  grower,  might  not  suit  a  wine  producer,  or  a 
miner,  and  a  locality  that  would  suit  either  of  these, 
might  not  be  the  choice  of  a  lumberman,  fisherman, 
stockraiser  or  manufacturer.  The  man  who  wishes  a 
cosy  home  in  some  quiet  valley,  where  vegetation  is 
almost  perpetually  green,  where  mountains  all  around 
him  afford  range  for  his  stock,  and  furnish  streams  of 
pure  rapid  water  w^hich  can  be  used  in  any  part  of  his 
house,  his  barn,  or  his  plantation,  where  snow  seldom 
falls,  and  where  the  general  rainfall  is  sufficient  for 
farming  purposes,  will  find  plenty  of  places  to  suit  him. 
Or,  if  he  prefers  a  locality  where  snow  never  falls,  and 
rain  seldom  falls,  but  where  by  using  the  mountain 
streams  for  the  purpose  of  irrigation,  he  can  produce 
the  choicest  of  grain,  and  the  finest  fruits  and  vege- 
tables, he  too  can  be  suited.  The  manufacturer  who 
seeks  for  water  power  to  enable  him  to  convert  illimit- 
able forests  to  lumber,  to  grind  into  Hour  the  wheat  of 
graujiries  now  })eing  burdened  to  bursting,  or  to  spin 
and  weave  the  wool  from  flocks  already  beginning  to 
cover  our  hills,  will  find  his  water  power  everywhere. 


I 


Till*  miner  uill  tind  an  iirt'ii  of  more  than  V)()(M)(M> 
square  miles,  stretc'liin*:;  IVom  the  Paeilic  Ocean  eleven 
hundred  miles  east,  and  reaehin»>;  from  the  northern 
lines  of  ()re<ron  and  Montana,  to  the  southern  bound- 
aries of  Arizona  and  New  Mexico,  vast  j)ortions  of 
which  are  vet  unexplored,  and  the  whole  of  which  has 
not  yet  yielde<|  a  tithe  of  its  precious  metals. 

The  adventurer  who  wishes  to  invest  in  city  proi)- 
erty,  can  find  places  whidi  are  yet  com[)aratively  in 
the  woods,  where  cities  are  to  he  built  that  will  eclipse 
Chicago  and  Jioston.  where  are  to  he  the  termini  ol 
railroads  running  across  the  continent,  and  coiinectinjj,' 
the  vast  interior  with  the  seaboard — a  ;-eaboard  to 
which  will  How  the  wealth  of  the  iidand  terrilorv,  and 
where  sliips  of  all  nations  will  discharge  and  receive 
their  mighty  cargoes.  The  school  teacher,  the  printer, 
the  common  laborer,  the  inventoi',  the  !uechanic,  the 
man  of  letters  and  of  capital,  will  all  lind  on  this  coast, 
a  field  of  operations  more  inviting  than  can  be  I'ound 
elsewhere. 

That  portion  of  the  Pacific  Slope  which  is  embiaced 
in  the  boundaries  of  Oregon,  is  the  spot  that  I  and 
many  others  sekM'ted  for  a  home  from  twenty  to  twenty- 
five  years  agi).  As  an  agricultural  country,  it  is  in 
my  opinion  the  crea.muf  the  Pacific  coast,  and  the  best 
state  in  the  union.  The  only  objection  that  has  ever 
been  urged,  or  that  can  be  urged  against  it,  is  the 
amount  of  its  winter  rainfall.  This  objection  oidy  lies 
however  against  that  portion  of  the  State  west  of  the 
(Jas(^ade  mountains,  and  bordering  on  the  Pacific  ocean. 
The  state  has  an  area  of  05.248  square  miles,  is  more 
than  twice  as  large  as  New  York,  and  out  of  it  could 
be  carved  twelve  such  States  as  Massachusetts,  with 
more  territory  U  ft   than  is  embraced  in  Rhode  Island. 

Here,  as  (dsewhere  on  the  Pacific  coast  a  description 


s 


of  one  portion  of  llic  Stnte.  would  i/wo  an  iniuliMiiinle 
idea  of  otlior  sections.  Taken  as  a  whole,  more  than 
three  fourths  of  the  entire  State  is  prairie — not  level, 
but  generally  undulating,  and  covered  with  a  wild  grass 
as  nutritious  as  any  of  the  tame  grasses  of  New  En- 
gland. On  this  grass,  stock  raisers  suhsist  their  cattle 
during  the  entire  \c.ir  with  hut  little  other  feed.  1 
have  kept  I'rom  fifty  to  a  hundred  head  of  cattle,  and 
from  twenty  to  fifty  horses,  without  feeding  to  the 
whole,  fifty  tons  of  hay  in  ten  years.  I  have  sold  these 
cattle  from  $12.  to  $j()0.  a  head,  and  the  horses  from 
$17.  to  $150.  From  these  figures,  some  idea  can  be 
had  of  the  profits  of  stock  raising — and  just  here  1 
might  perha])s  as  well  say  that,  the  farmer  can  sell  to 
buyers  who  will  couie  to  his  door,  all  the  cows  he  can 
raise,  at  an  average  of  $oO.  or  $oG.  each ;  beef  cattle 
at  from  $25.  to  $G0;  sheep,  at  fiom  $1.50.  to  $2.50. 
each  ;  fat  hogs  at  from  $5.  to  $15.  each  ;  and  chickens 
at  from  $2.  to  $4.  a  dozen. 

Horses  are  plenty  and  not  as  ready  sale  as  other 
kinds  of  stock.  Indian  ponies  are  worth  from  $15. 
to  $25.  and  very  superior  American  work  horses, 
equal  to  the  average  of  the  best  draught  horses  in 
New  England,  can  be  bought  at  prices  varying  from 
$100.  to  $200.  Our  money  is  gold  and  silver,  and 
when  1  speak  of  dollars,  1  always  mean  coin  dollars. 
Greenbacks,  go  for  what  the  telegram  ever}^  day  from 
the  gold  gamblers  in  New"  York,  tell  us  they  consider 
them  worth. 

I  said  that  three  fourths  of  the  State  is  prairie,  des- 
titute of  timber  and  brush.  It  is  so,  and  much  of  the 
land,  whether  bottom  land  lying  on  banks  of  streams, 
or  upland  rolling  prairie,  with  an  alluvial  top  and  clay 
bed,  is  as  productive  as  any  soil  on  the  globe ;  and  the 
pioneer,  instead  of  wearing  himself  out  to  clear  away 
the  timbei'  and  rocks,  as  our  fathers  in  New  England 


» 

\ 


.w 


y 


(li<l,  had  hiif  to  locate  liis  clnini.  It'iicc  it  in,  and  no  to 
plowing  land  whore  he  could  run  his  plow  hi'ani  deep 
without  striking  a,  root  or  a  stone;  where  he  could 
subsist  his  team  and  keep  it  fat  on  the  grass  that  cov- 
ered the  land  he  was  plowing ;  and  where  the  soles  of 
his  feet  were  stained  at  nearly  every  step,  with  the 
juice  of  the  most  delicious  sti-awherries. 

In  some  localities,  timhi'r  is  scarce,  luit  as  a  general 
thing,  every  farmer  has  an  abundance  near  at  hand — 
the  streams  which  are  numerous,  being  often  skirted 
with  timber,  while  the  adjacent  mountains,  furnish  an 
exhanstless  supply.  When  the  Missouri  orator,  in 
painting  the  vastness  of  our  growing  country  and  the 
giant  proportions  that  Brother  Jonathan  was  assuming 
exclaimed — '' Faneuil  Hall  was  his  cradle,  but  «67ia/*, 
Oh\  ivhar  shall  we  find  timber  for  his  coffin?"  The 
Cascade  Mountains  echoed — Ilerel  and  the  Coast 
Chain,  answered — "Enough  here  for  the  coffin  of 
John  Bull  too."     [Applause.] 

The  remarks  I  have  made  about  Oregon  are  appli- 
cable in  the  main  to  that  portion  of  the  State  Iviu"- 
between  Idaho,  and  the  Blue  Mountains,  called  "  East- 
ern Oregon."  They  ai-e  also  true  of  the  Willanu'tte. 
Unipqua,  and  Bogue  Biver  vallies,  bounded  by  tlie 
Cascade  Mountains  on  the  east,  the  Coast  Chain  on 
the  west,  the  Columbia  Biver  on  the  north,  and  Cali- 
fornia on  the  south.  This  section,  which  is  known  as 
Western  Oregon  ;  being  on  the  sea  board,  and  possess- 
ing superior  attractions,  was  first  settled  :  and  it  yet 
contains  a  majority  of  the  voters,  wealth  and  enter- 
prise of  the  State.  It  has  for  a  winter,  a  -  j-ainv  sea- 
son,"  lasting  irom  sometime  in  November,  till  the  lirst 
of  April. 

The  portion  known  as  Middle  Oregon,  which  lies 
west  of   the    Blue    Mountains,    east   of  the  Cascades 


10 


south  of  the  Cohimbia  River,  and  north  of  Cahfornia, 
is  a  vast  roUing  plain,  covered  with  grass,  but  nearly 
destitute  of  timber.  The  mountains  to  the  east  and 
west  of  it,  not  more  than  seventy  five  miles  cither 
way  from  the  center  of  the  plain,  Avill  furnish  all  the 
timber  that  is  needed,  when  railroads  abound  there, 
as  they  do  here.  This,  as  well  as  Eastern  Oregon,  is 
exempt  from  the  winter  rains  peculiar  to  the  western 
section,  but  the  climate  is  colder  in  winter,  the  ther- 
mometer having  been  known  to  go  as  low  as  twenty 
degrees  below  zero,  once  or  twice  in  twenty  years. 
The  winters  are  generally  milder  than  they  are  in  the 
State  of  Tennessee,  and  stock  raisers  seldom  feed  their 
horses,  sheep  or  cattle  during  the  winter.  Twenty 
years  ago  I  knew  Indians  who  kept  many  hundred 
horses,  subsisting  them  on  the  native  grasses  the  year 
round. 

It  may  astonish  you,  but  it  is  nevertheless  true,  that 
vast  herds  of  cattle  and  horses  are  subsisted  in  this 
manner,  in  the  passes  of  the  Rocky.  Mountains  through 
which  it  is  proposed  to  run  the  North  Pacific  Railroad. 

They  live  in  this  way,  in  the  northern  portion  of 
Montana,  Washington  Territory,  and  on  portions  of 
Vancouver's  Island,  as  high  as  50"  north  latitude. 

A  Georgian  would  be  surprised  to  hear,  that  a  man 
had  raised  several  wagon  loads  of  sweet  potatoes  on 
the  banks  of  Moosehead  Lake,  away  up  in  Maine,  for 
towards  the  place  where  Franklin  froze  to  death — 
[Applause]  so  should  I.  But  1  know  a  man  who  lives 
at  Walla  Walla,  Washington  Territory,  half  a  degree 
further  north,  who,  two  years  ago  raised  thirty  seven 
thousand  pounds  of  sweet  ])otatoes,  and  he  didn't 
think  it  a  very  extra  year  for  sweet  potatoes  either. 

Oregon  as  a  whole,  is  best  .adapted  to  the  purposes 
of    agriculture,     stock     rai.'-ing,    and    manufacturing. 


I 


I 


11 


lornia 


I 


though  its  mining  resources  are  great.  It  has  ex- 
hauslless  iron  ore  of  a  superior  quality,  and  coal  mines 
in  several  localities  ;  while  silver  and  gold,  especially 
the  latter  are  found  in  almost  every  part  of  the  state. 
Mining  is  carried  on  but  little,  excepting  in  the  east- 
ern and  southern  portions,  where  gold  and  silver 
mines  exist  of  reputed  gieat  value,  but  which  so  far 
as  discovered,  are  mostly  held  by  men  who  have  no 
capital  to  work  them.  It  may  stem  incredible  at  this 
distance  away,  but  it  is  nevertheless  true  that  men 
have  made,  and  still  can  make  three  dollars  a  day  to 
the  hand  in  washing  the  sands  of  the  ocean  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Columbia  River — and  yet  they  are  not 
washed,  because  nobodv  in  that  vicinitv  thinks  three 
dollars  a  day  suflicient  pay  for  such  labor.  We  make 
no  groat  boast  of  our  mineral  products ;  as  owing  to 
the  high  price  of  labor,  the  heavy  cost  of  transporting 
machinery  into  the  mountains,  the  scarcity  of  capital, 
tou'ether  with  the  certain  remunerations  of  agriculture 
and  other  pursuits,  our  mines  have  been  but  little 
worked.  Yet  it  is  nevertheless  true  that  of  the  $66, 
500,000  worth  of  precious  metals  supplied  to  the 
world  by  our  western  gold  fields  last  year,  Oregon 
contributed  $5,000,000.  California  contributed  .  $20, 
000,000,  Nebraska  $18,000,000,  Montana  $12,000,000, 
Idaho  $6,000,000,  Colorado  $4,000,000,  Washington 
Territory  $1,000,000,  while  Arizona  and  New  Mexico 
contributed  $250,000,  each. 

A  few  years  hence  we  shall  make  a  better  report. 

The  County  of  Crrant,  situated  in  the  middle  of 
Middle  Oregon,  claims  to  have  already  produced  over 
$10,000,000  in  gold,  notwithstanding  It  has  a  popula- 
tion of  only  about  four  thousand,  and  is  infested  with 
hostile  Indians  who  secrete  themselves  in  the  moun- 
tains, and  by  their  occasional  inroads  upon  the  settle- 


12 


iiients,  make  both  iiiiiiing  and  fnriiiing  extremely  Iiaz- 
ardoiLs.  This  county  contains  accoiding  to  a  report 
just  published  by  the  Oregon  Agricultural  Society, 
territory  enough  to  make  about  two  such  States  as 
Massachusetts.  This  is  the  only  county  in  the  State 
where  the  Indians  are  troublesome.  In  other  jiarts  of 
the  state  there  is  no  more  danger  from  Indians  than 
there  is  in  Boston. 

The  rest  of  my  remarks  upon  Orey:on  will  he  mainlv 
applicable  to  the  western  part  of  the  State.  The  cream 
of  Oregon  is  the  Willamette  valley,  though  other  por- 
tions of  the  state  possess  attractions,  which  suit  a  diver- 
sity of  ta'^tes  and  callings,  and  are  constantly  makiufj!; 
draius  upon  the  population  of  the  Willamette.  This 
valley,  measuring  froui  the  siuumit  of  the  Cascades,  to 
the  sumuiit  of  the  Coast  Chain  is  about  sixty-five  miles 
wide  and  about  one  hundred  and  fiftvlouu'.  or  about  as 
large  as  Massachusetts  and  Delaware.  In  richness  ol'  soil, 
in  the  beauty  of  its  scenery,  the  ])urity  and  abundance 
of  its  water,  consisting  of  rivers,  springs  and  wells, 
all  of  which  is  as  soft  as  rainwater;  its  general  health, 
and  average  climate,  its  natural  facilities  tor  c(;uimer- 
cial  intercourse  with  the  world,  its  water  power,  and  its 
exhaustless  mountain  forests,  it  will  compare  with,  and 
in  my  humble  opinion  excel  any  other  spot  of  equal 
size  in  North  America. 

The  first  thing  that  strikes  a  stranger  Avho  reaches 
this  country,  is  the  dissimularity  he  everywhere  notices 
between  things  there,  and  those  on  the  Atlantic  Slope. 
He  gazes  with  delight  at  mountain  peaks,  covered  with 
eternal  snows  sixty  or  eighty  miles  away,  and  yet,  such 
is  the  purity  of  the  atmosphere,  and  the  magnitude  of 
the  mountains,  it  seems  incredible  to  him  that  they  are 
more  than  ten  or  fifteen  miles  distant.  He  Avonders 
that  the  mountain  ranges,  have  a  far  richer  soil  uj*   lo 


13 


their  ven'  suiniiiits*  than  the  average  farming  hinds  of 
New  England.  Ho  is  astonished  to  see  thonsands  of 
cattle  and  sheep  living  and  fattening  on  the  wild  grass 
in  these  mountains,  He  is  surprised  to  see  that  the 
Cascade  and  Coast  mountains,  the  land  of  which  is  un- 
survejed  and  unclaimed  by  the  Government,  have  a 
better  soil  and  milder  climate  than  the  best  portions  of 
Maine.  If  I  had  my  choice  to  open  a  farm  on  top  of 
the  Coast  Kano-e,  near  some  rich  and  o-ras,^  covered 
|)ruiries  1  know  of,  where  I  could  have  tall  timber  all 
around  me,  deer,  elk,  bear  and  mountain  trout  for  my 
meat,  breathe  a  pure  and  invigorating  atmosphere,  and 
drink  from  springs  as  pure  and  cold  as  the  fabled  springs 
of  pagan  Muses,  or  take  the  best  farm  in  Maine  as  a 
gift  to  live  on,  1  should  choose  the  mountain  home  in 
Oregon  without  a  moments  hesitation — yet  more  land 
of  this  kind  than  there  is  in  the  whole  State  of  Maine 
can  be  had  in  Oregon  without  money  and  without  price. 
He  who  visits  that  country  sees  elder  stalks  from 
eighteen  to  thirtv  inches  in  circumference,  and  hazel 
l)ushes,  from  one  to  live  inches  in  diameter.  He  sees 
them  making  luml)er  of  aider  sawlogs  from  twenty  to 
thirty  inches  in  diameter,  lie  notices  something  new 
in  the  form  and  color  of  nearly  all  the  birds  and  animals. 
He  finds  the  quail  is  uncommonly  large  and  beautiful, 
the  male  of  which  has  a  feathery  tuft  on  the  top  of  its 
head  five  or  six  inches  long.  He  notices  that  many  of 
the  d.c.  have  black  tails,  and  are  remarkable  for  size 
and  beautv.  He  has  heard  about  the  fir  trees  in  Oreson 
which  reach  an  altitude  of  three  hundred  feet,  or  over 
eighteen  rods;  trees  out  of  which  have  been  taken 
eiu-hteen  rail  cuts,  and  manv  of  which  will  make  from 
five  to  ten  tiiousand  feet  of  lumber.  AVhen  he  first 
looks  up  into  one  of  these  trees,  and  perhaps  watches 
a  squirrel,  till  in  ascending  it  i^  lo:-*t  to  view,  he  believes 


14 


that  the  storv  i«  true — after  he  measures  the  tree, 
he  knoios  that  it  is  true.  He  will  find  that,  in  wander- 
ing through  these  shady  groves,  he  will  not  be  exposed 
to  the  sting  of  poisonous  insects  and  venemous  reptiles, 
or  the  ferocity  of  wild  beasts,  as  in  many  other  coun- 
tries. He  can  sit  on  a  mosj^y  log  or  lie  down  on  the 
grass — everywhere,  I  was  going  to  say,  but  I  will  not, 
Jbr  I  aim  to  state  nothing  but  what  is  strictly  true. 

I  have  lived  there  many  years,  during  which  I  have 
travelled  through  the  entire  state  from  north  to  south, 
and  from  east  to  west;  scaled  mountains, swam  rivers, 
and  visited  nooks  and  corners  where  none  but  Indians 
ever  were  before.  During  this  time  1  have  seen  and 
killed  one  rattlesnake,  run  into  one  swarm  of  mosqui- 
tos,  stirred  up  one  family  of  hornets,  about  a  dozen 
families  of  yellow  jackets,  and  slept  in  a  good  many 
beds,  whc":  bed  ))ugs  or  ileas  kept  reminding  me  that 
I  wasn't  in  Heaven.     [Applause] 

1  have  seldom  read  a  book  of  travels  that  gave  the 
reader  a  correct  idea  of  the  countries  described.  They 
generally  state  the  advantages  in  glowing  colors,  mixed 
in  with  a  good  deal  of  poetry,  while  they  say  but  little 
about  the  disadvantages.  Many  of  those  books  are 
written  by  adventurers,  perhaps  well  read,  and  liter- 
jiry,  but  who  are  as  incompetent  to  jvidge  of  the  in- 
ducements a  country  offers  as  a  home,  as  they  are  to 
decide  upon  the  best  method  of  making  cheese  or  soap. 
They  will  write  glibly  about  the  carbonate  of  lime, 
oxide  of  iron,  carbonate  of  magnesia,  silicia  alumina 
kc.  that  compose  the  soil,  without  telling  us  just  what 
the  soil  will  produce,  or  how  much  of  it  to  the  acre. 
I  have  visited  some  countries,  with  these  books  of 
travel  in  my  hand,  and  found,  as  I  found  in  Central 
America,  that  while  the  books  described  the  gorgeous 
glory  of  its  forests,  they  failed  to  tell  me  that  every 


I 


he  tree, 
wander- 
oxposed 
reptiles, 
-r  coun- 

on  the 
ill  not, 
rue. 

I  have 
'  south, 
rivers, 
ndians 
n  and 
losqui- 
dozen 
many 
e  that 

^e  the 

They 

nixed 

little 

s  are 

liter- 

le  in- 

re  to 

3oap. 

[ime, 

nina 

vhat 

icre. 

:s  of 

tral 

ous 

ery 


step  I  took  in  the  woods  I  wms  in  danger  of  being 
stung  by  a  venemous  reptile,  and  that  1  could  no  more 
sit  down  to  rest  in  the  shade,  on  Jiecount  of  gnats  and 
mosquitos,  than  1  eould  stand  still  in  a  hornets  nest. 
1  had  to  go  there  to  find  out  that  the  eliolera  and 
yellow  lever  often  carries  oil'  the  p<'ople  by  liunMieds. 
I  read  of  it  as  a  great  cotton  country  but  nevei*  knew 
till  1  talked  with  the  people  there  that,  while  the  cot- 
ton grows  luxuriantly,  the  worm  is  sure  to  destroy 
almost  every  vestige  of  it  before  it  matures — that  the 
weevil  destroys  the  corn,  and  that  the  peo[)le  liave 
little  or  no  market  fur  whjit  they  do  raise. 

1  have  seen  other  countries,  such  as  Chili  in  South 
America,  which,  although  settled  by  a  class  of  peo|)le 
that  a  liberal  minded  American  would  not  like  to  live 
among,  is  in  natural  advantages  one  of  the  finc-^t  coun- 
tries  on  the  globe — more  like  our  possessions  on  the 
Pacific  Coast  than  any  country  I  ever  saw,  and  yet 
such  a  country  is  often  turned  off  with  a  dash  of 
the  pen  or  two,  Ijecause  the  disgusted  tourist  didn't 
get  his  boots  blacked,  his  beard  fashionably  trinuned, 
or  {I  leather  bed   to  sleep  on. 

My  object  is,  to  correctly  describe  the  country  1  hail 
from.  While  I  speak  of  its  advantages,  1  shall  not  fail 
to  mention  its  disadvantages.  No  man  shall  ever  go 
to  that  coast  and  say  that  1  deceived  him  by  exagger- 
ating, or  nudving  a  single  statement  that  was  not  true. 
If  all  1  have  said,  and  all  1  shall  say  is  true,  you  can  be 
your  own  judges  as  to  whether  it  would  suit  you. 

If  1  was  going  to  pick  in  the  United  States  the  sec- 
tion that  man  has  done  the  most  for,  I  shoidd  select 
New  England,  but  if  1  was  called  upon  to  indicate  the 
portion  that  God  has  done  the  most  for,  1  should  point 
right  over  towards  Oregon  and  California.  If  God 
had  never  done  anv   more    for  that  countrv   than   he 


u; 


has  for  this,  it  woulihi't  hnvo  hciMi  scttlcil  to  this  (hiy. 
If  our  coiintrv  is  a  reiiiiirkahlv  U'ood  coimtrv,  it  is  soon 
to  hocouK'  a  QTcnt  comitiv.  If  it  is  ji  hi'ttor  countrv 
than  this  or  the  Mississippi  N'nHey;  more  hoiilthy,  more 
tonipenitc  ovorhciui.  iin  oasiorcoinitry  to  make  a  livinE^ 
in,  and  make  money  in.  then  it  will  pay  the  farmer  to 
go  there,  and  where  it  will  pay  the  a<i;ri('ulturist.  to  go, 
it  will  pay  the  capitahst  and  every  hody  else  to  go — 
with  the  exception  perhaps,  of  the  soft  handed  young 
gentlemen  who  sport  switch  Avalking  canes,  part  their 
liair  in  the  middle,  smoke  perfumed  cigars,  and  twist 
their  mustaches  into  horns.  [Cheers]  »Such  insects  had 
probably  better  stay  where  they  are,  and  let  the  old 
folks  take  care  of  them.   [Ap])lause] 

The  soil  of  Ore^oJi  rests  on  a  clav  bed,  so  hard  that 
a  nugget  of  gold  could  never  work  down  through  it, 
hence  the  surface  holds  all  the  dressing  it  ever  had, 
and  (iod  gave  it  the  first  dressing  it  ever  had,  and  the 
last,  for  nobody  that  1  know  of  ever  manures  except 
it  be  perhaps  some  garden  patch.  I  am  asked  every- 
where— "Doesn't  vour  soil  wear  out?"  It  never  has 
worn  out  yet  and  I  know  of  farms  that  were  settled 
nearly  fifty  years  ago,  by  the  emphn^ees  of  the  Hudvson 
Bay  Company,  which  I  believe  will  produce  as  many 
bushels  of  grain  to  day,  as  they  did  forty  years  ago. 

A  man  on  this  side  the  Rockv  Mountains  would  think 
he  had  a  fortune  if  he  owned  a  large  farm  that  never 
needed  manure,  and  which  had  a  rail  fence  around  it 
that  would  last  a  hundred  years.  Just  imagine  what 
such  a  farm  of  320  acres  would  sell  for,  a  farm  on  which 
snow  so  seldom  falls  that  its  owner's  stock  will  live  in  his 
pastures  ten  months  out  of  twelve,  on  which  with  good 
cultivation  he  can  raise  from  thirty  to  sixty-two  bush- 
els of  wheat  to  tiio  acre,  on  which  he  has  an  abundance 
of  stock  water,  plenty  of  oak,  ash.  maple,  alder,  white. 


tin's  (lay. 
t  is  soon 
country 
i,v.  mo  10 
a  living 
liner  to 
t,  to  uo. 

to  go 

1  young 
rt  their 
1  twist 
'ct8  had 
the  old 


rd  that 
>ngh  it, 
r   had, 
md  the 
except 
every- 
er  has 
ettled 
udson 
many 

go- 
think 

lever 
nd  it 
what 

hich 
In  his 

ood 

ush- 
Mice 

n"te. 


17 


rc'l  iind  yellow  lir  tlmher.  a  nerfcctlv  healthy  location, 
and  l)(>!iiitiriil  scenery  all  around  him;  where  the  ther- 
momet(M'  never  rises  above  82".  or  sinks  lower  than  sjx 
degrees  helow  zero,  and  not  as  low  as  that  only  once 
in  many  years — what  would  such  a  place  he  worth".' 
But  suppose  that  on  his  land  he  can  raise  common  white 
turnips  and  rutabagas,  thai  will  weigh  Irom  live  to  thirty 
live  pounds  each,  and  measure  from  ten  inches  to  three 
and  a  half  i'eet  round  by  simply  plowing  his  ground 
and  sowing  the  f^vvil  broadcast,  and  without  bestowing 
any  labor  upon  them  after  covering  the  ^Qei]^  land  that 
will  produce  better  potatoes  and  more  of  them,  than 
can  be  raised  oil  the  Mississippi  bottoms,  or  in  the  (Jen- 
uessee  Valley,  and  e(|ual  Illinois  land  in  its  yield  of 
oats,  and  all  kinds  of  vegetables — what  would  a  man 
ask  for  such  land? 

Sup[)ose  that  this  fai-m  was  entirely  exempt  from 
the  terrible  tornados  tli.it  freciuently  sweep  over  Illi- 
nois and  other  western  states,  and  sometimes  visit  New 
England,  and  suppose  that  it  had  a  comfortable  house, 
and  respectable  out  buildings,  and  an  orchard,  that 
produced  hundreds  of  bushels  of  the  finest  ap])les  in 
the  world;  plums,  and  cherries  that  no  insect  ever 
molests;  where  his  wheat  never  rusts,  or  is  destroj'ed 
by  weevil ;  his  potatoes  are  not  eaten  up  by  bugs,  or 
seized  with  the  rot — about  what  would  such  a  home  be 
worth  on  the  Atlantic  Slope? 

And  suppose  in  addition  to  all  this,  he  can  sitwith  his 
coat  on  and  he  comfortable  in  the  shade,  the  hottest 
day  that  ever  shines;  and  that  the  nights  are  so  cool 
that  he  generally  sleeps  under  the  same  bedding  sum- 
mer and  winter;  that  his  stock  is  generally  remarkably 
healthy;  his  hogs  never  die  with  the  cholera,  but  fre- 
quently live  the  year  round  with  but  little  feed;  and  not 
unfre(juently  get  fat    enough  for  pork  on  the  acorns. 


Is 


iiiits  1111(1  Kiols  outside  ol  lii>  ciiclosmvs;  ;iiul  wlnMV 
liis  cliildicn  ciiii  pick  Ixislicls  oi'  wild  strawhcnios  on 
the  |)r;nrios,  (|iiaiuiti('s  of  inspherrics.  f^oosol)oiTies, 
l»l!U'ki)('n'io>.  rInniMclx'nie-;  salm()iil)CMTii's  jiiid  ♦sid-nl 
l)!MM'i(>s  in  llu'  woods:  idioiit  wluit  do  yoii  tliink  sucli  ii 
|»Im<h'  woidd  lie  Ihdd  nt  o\er  lliis  way?  Do  you  hclicvc 
that  li'old  woidd  hiiy  if.'  And  yet  liundi'cds  of  {'anus 
|io.vs('><in^'ali  iIh'so  ad\  antagcs.  and  more  can  ho  hoiiglit 
in  OrcL-'on.  at  IVoni  SS.  to  ^10.  an  acre;  hccause  the 
scik'i' can  soon  stall  another  iiirin  tliat  will  suit  him 
just  as  \\('n.  wht'i'c  hind  is  new.  and  worth  ])crlia])s 
,*ii;J.li')  an  acre.  Many  of  the  I'urnis  in  Oregon,  are  too 
large  tor  tlie  good  of  society,  thi;  good  of  their  owners, 
or  the  gooil  of  anyl)ody.  The  (loverninent  dcniated  to 
every  man  wlio  settU'd  there  prior  to  18'j4,  ^520  acres 
of  hind,  and  also  ;)'J1()  acres  to  every  married  woman  to 
he  licdd  in  iier  own  rigid.  The  hushands  dehts  can- 
not touch  it.  The  laws  of  the  State  also  very  j)ropcrly 
])rovide  lor  the  holding  of  property  ])y  woman.  The 
owners  of  these  large  tracts  of  land  will  sell  olf  Avhen 
they  can  find  hnycM's.  'I'he  coiintiy  will  not  he  the 
great  and  hcautiful  country  it  is  destined  to  he  till 
farms  generally  contain  only  iVom  twenty  to  sixtvacres, 
as  they  do  in  New  England. 

Men  in  Oregon  own  sonmohland  that  very  little  of 
it  is  more  than  half  cultiyated.  They  are  jus  begin- 
ning to  learn  that  deep  plowing  and  good  cultivation 
]iays.  When  1  first  went  to  Oregon,  such  a  thing  as  a 
steel  ])low  that  would  scour,  was  nnknown  in  the  ])art 
T  settled  in.  The  people  had  nearly  all  emigrated  from 
Missouri.  They  still  wore  hntternut  breeches  and  used 
wooden  mould  board  plows  such  as  they  used  before 
the  Hood.  They  thought  that  human  skill  was  exhaust- 
ed when  it  gave  birth  to  one  of  these  plows.  [Laughter.] 
With  them  we  skimmed  the  surface  of  the  ground,  and 


4 


"^S 


Ill 


gut  prrlKi[)-<  l\\ cut V  luishi'ls  ol  wheal  t(»  the  acre.  In 
1S')0  I  ])liiiitc'(l  on  <^r(M!n(l  sfratciu'd  over  wilii  one  of 
these  "divine  arts  of  Missoiiii, "  six  Idislieis  of  potatoes, 
f'oi*  wliieli  1  paid  ij^  I  •  ■•  I  raised  I'lom  tlieiii  ten  luisliels. 
woj'tli  S  H>.  in  the  fall.  Since  stecj  plows  came  into  nse. 
I  liavi'  raiseil  2  Hi  hnshds  from  the  same  amount  of  m^'il 
worth  ?5l-0.  I  have  laised  from  an  aci'e.  in  wheat. 
'.].!'){)  pounds,  or  sixty  two  and  a  half  hushels.  I  l»e- 
Heve  that  with  proper  <'ultivation  a  man  will  ^eneiallx 
raise  Irom  thirtv  to  forty  hushels  to  the  acre. 

We  now  ha\('  foi-  sale  and  in  use.  all  the  hest  a^ri- 
cultural  implements,  that  are  used  any  wheie  in  the 
IJ^nited  States.  You  can.  not  only  huy  these.  Iiut  you 
can  purchase  any  thinii;  else  in  Oregon,  that  you  ean 
procure  in  New  KuLi'laiid.  'I'he  prices  ai'e  generally 
ahout  the  same  there  in  .irold,  that  they  are  here  in 
currency. 

N(tl)odv  irriixates  land  with  us.  as  the\'  do  in  Calilor- 
nia.  the  sunnner  rains  though  rare,  heing  sulHcient  to 
make  the  crops.  The  first  of  April  the  I'ainy  season 
is  considered  over,  yet  we  have  o(Mnvsional  showers  till 
the  middle  of  May,  when  spring  sowing  is  generally 
over.  Ahout  the  first  of  June  we  bok  for  a  weeks  rain. 
No  more  rain  need  be  expected  till  the  first  of  Sep- 
tember; when  several  days  rain  may  he  looked  for, 
which  starts  the  grass,  and  aflords  the  farmer  an  (.'xcel- 
lent  oppoi'tunity  to  sow  fall  wheat.  Wheat  sown  then 
will  be  from  six  to  eight  inches  high  by  the  time  the 
cold  rains  of  November  set  in,  and  it  generally  makes 
a  better  crop  than  wheat  sown  at  any  other  time.  When 
the  >''rain  fields  beuin  to  ripen,  about  the  first  of  Juh'. 
the  t.-rass  on  the  prairies  beirins  to  tmii  vellow,  too. 
This  o-rass  o-ots  dead  and  drv  enouu'h  to  l)urn.  but  it  is 
as  nutritious,  is  eaten  as  readily  by  stock,  and  fattcMrs 
them  as  fa^^t.  or  t'astei'  than  tlie  u'reen   <irass.      It  is  not 


"■•<Koo(J/ij|.,|„||-  ... 

"•"lnn,„„,|,„.,iv..  ,l„,i„„  ,„,'      "  '  "''"''  "'•'•  ""»■  'Iry 

•'■;;-"-'!'". "i" .v:/t :;;;;::;:•■;;:::  "'"'^■- 

i.ct.s-the  reason.,  can  l.o    ■       ,  •   ^  •■""'"■'■<••  to  .state 
0"Mo  be  on,b,.acocl  in  a  .l.onJ!:^' '""  '""  """'""- 

^™  ^■".  t:^"  ::::;:'";;;i::r^^  "^-'^ "-  --"■ 

»'••"■■"  P"rallel,  wifl,  north        v^''  'v°",  *'"-'  """'-'  «"■ 

Oregon.  wlnVl,  ha,,  ,  k-'.  '".'  ■?''■'"  "'^'  '■■•'l-it^I  oC 

VoH...ont,.,.an;eX,.';::.i^^^^ 

f'^i-a-'a.     i-o,,  will  also  hn,I  •   '"■'"^'•. ""''  ""'■'liern 

.l""-;«.  th.at,  eo„,„are,l  « i,h  the  "tl  ";;'":;'""  ''"■''■  ''- 

of  minor  range;  that  Ion!  "• '  ?"''"  """'""'•  ""'' 
^■al-enheit,  the'  varilw^  '^r;  7">;:^'  '-■  "■  ^>'r' 
tliose  on  the  Paeitie.  U'hil,,  ,|  """■  '"<'  ''""''I*' 
t-perature  at  .San  Fran  i.!™, ■.:;::■■;',:  ''""''-■ '"'  '''"*''"■ 
"  »"'J  8"S0';  at  Washi„,.t,,  ",'■'""""  "'■•^"'•^' 
"o'-e  than  five  times  a.  .re^t  "'  "  "  "'''  '^'>' '  "'■ 
^--i..  to  .«,o.get:  hVeta,    eharK    th. „„„ 


! 


I 


I 


iMiiiliill  (jf  r'alirornia,  wlierc  tin*  clirimb?  is  mild,  iiuil 
where  it  ^^ciu'rallv  ruins  in  winlci-  instead  of  snowiiiir; 
is  only  aliDUt  liaii"  what  it  is  in  sintcs  east  ol'tlie  Missis- 
si|»i)i.  'The  a\e)'a;i('  rainliill  on  \  anconver's  Islan(]  is 
only  ahont  sixty  live  in('lK">.  at  Astoria  ()re;i-()n.  ahont 
sixty  inches,  at  liuniholdt  in  northern  Calilornia  a'«ont 
I'ortN'  live  inches,  in  i^an  l"ianei>co  ahout  l\vent\' 
two  iiiche-i.  Kroiii  this.it  (h'creasi-s  sontli.  till  yon 
reach  the  u'reat  (,'oIoi"a(lo  Desert,  where  it  aniomits  t(> 
almost   nolhinu". 

1  have  tohl  von  that  the  winters  are  generally  mild 
as  far  north  as  I'ortland.  Oregon,  and  tliat  onr  coldest 
weather  had  not  occnri'ed  oftener  than  once  in  seven 
years.  1  lind  most  jx'ople  u'c'  a  Ix'tter  i(h'a  of  onr 
winters,  when  told  that,  for  \ears  after  I  went  there 
peoj)le  nes'er  thoniiht  of  di^i^Liin;^' theii*  ])otatoes,  only  as 
they  nsed  them,  through  the  winter,  and  wo  seldom  had 
any  potjitoes  I'ree/e  in  the  gronnd. 

I  have  allnded  to  the  su|)erior  character  of  onr  frnits. 
"•rains  and  vegetahlos.  My  statements  are  corrohor- 
atod  by  almndant  proofs,  (lied  away  in  the  (Joyeni- 
ment  archives.  Professor  Merrick  of  Washington  city, 
in  one  of  his  reports  on  the  climate  of  tlie  Paciffic 
coast  mys — 

"  Tliese  ^'ciieral  cotitrolliiij;  elements  CDiiiliiiiiiiij;  with  the  uiiiqiie  choro- 
fjriipliic  t'eatiires  of  tlie  eoimtry,  jiive  ri.se  t(»  a  niatehlcss  versatility  ul"  lueal 
ollinates.  These  acting  npon  a  soil  of  exiiiiisiie  I'eitility,  yield,  iu  an  ;\ver  to 
intelligent  agriculture,  a  variety,  Itixiirian 'e.  ami  delicacy  of  i)ro(  action, 
esenient.  cereal,  lilinms,  and  I'ruital,  nnparrelled  on  the  face  of  tin  earth. 
The  sakibrity  of  the^e  ciiinates,  wilh  a  lew  local  exceidions  is  unsu  passed. 
Their  freedom  from  injnrions  variation  was  a  matter  of  common  report 
long  before  it  was  verified  hy  scientilie  observation. —  *** 

The  most  active  ont-door  labors  may  be  performed  at  all  seasons  of  the 
year,  and  at  all  honi's  of  tlie  day.  even  in  the  nmstsidtry  valleys.  This  resnlts 
from  the  dr\ne>s  of  the  atmosphere  which  prevents  the  few  hot  d<iys  from 
being  at  all  enervating.  Snch  a  thing  as  a  hard  winter,  as  nndestood  east 
of  the  Mississippi,  is  unknown  even  as  I'ar  north  as  Washington  Territory. 
All  reports,  both  common  and  (-cientitic,  seem  to  coincide  in  the  statement 
that  the  Pacific  Coast  luvsenfs  the  most  desirable  conditions  of  climaticin- 
ttnencps  upon  earth.  " 


M 


•  )'} 


Thut  is  stroiiLi'  l;ini'"nai'"e.  but  it  is  neverllieless  tnie. 
And  it  is  also  true,  that  tliis  climato  which  invigorates, 
instead  of  relaxiiiu"  and  enei'vatinL!;  the  human  system 
as  does  tlie  ('liinat(>  of  the  ureat  Mississippi  valley? 
sharpens  a  man's  perception.  opiMis  his  eves,  anrl  i'end- 
ers  him  evervwav  more  vigorous,  active,  and  wide 
awake  than  he  was  Itef'oie  u'oing  there.  You  ask  one 
of  onr  men  on  lh<'  road  a  (piestion,  and  vou  don'i 
have  to  wait  ten  or  iil'teen  seconds  Ibi-  a)i  answer. 

Alter  I  crossed  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  got  down 
into  Nehraska.  Illinois  and  Indiana,  in  June  1<S0S  I  felt 
as  though  1  had  got  Into  a  mannnoth  hake  oven.  The 
people  appeared  to  he  possessed  with  a  sort  of  stu])or 
that  was  new  to  me.  It  seemed  to  nie  that,  when  I  met 
a  man  on  the  road  just  at  the  forks,  and  en((uired  which 
fork  1  must  take,  it  generally  took  him  ten  or  fifteen 
seconds  to  o-et  the  idea  into  his  head,  and  get  his  brain 
to  working  [Laughter]  so  as  to  be  able  to  give  me  an 
answer.  I  soon  swa  that  it  was  in  the  climate,  foi'  1 
hegan  to  get  stupid  too.  [Laughter] 

Yon  take  a  raw  Missourian  v>'ho  honestly  thinks  that 
a  Yankee  is  a  man  who  always  wants  his  daughters  to 
marrv  -'nee ire rs."  who  believes  that  the  world  is  flat, 
and  that  Christ  was  born  in  Bethan}',  Mistiouri,  and  who 
f/iV/ believe  previous  to  1800,  that  he  and  his  kind  could 
whip  the  Y'ankee  nation  with  squirrel  guns,  and  Arkan- 
sas toothpicks;  and  send  him  to  Oregon,  and  you  will 
find  that  he  will  shed  olf  his  l)utternut  breeches  in 
eighteen  months,  [great  laughter]  In  three  years  he 
will  shed  olf  his  old  cuticle,  and  look  as  sleek  as  a  snake 
after  crawlinu,'  out  of  its  old  skin.  In  ten  vears  it  he 
doesn't  ''get  religion,"  and  become  as  wideawake  as 
a  New  England  Yankee;  1  will  agree  to  furnish  him 
with  a  new  suit  of  butternuts,  and  pay  his  expenses 
back  to  Pike  County.  Missouri.   [xVpplause.] 


t'less  true. 
vigorato;s, 
111  system 
V'^  vjilloy, 
aurl  iviifl- 
111(1   wido 

I  ;isk  one 
oil  don't 
u-er. 

^ot  down 
ns  I  felt 
11.  The 
'  stupor 

II  1  met 
t  which 
'  fifteen 
«  hi'.'iin 

iiie  ;in 
^ibr    I 

vs  thcat 
ters  to 
is  fiat, 
d  who 
leouhl 
U^k  an- 
il will 
los  in 
I's  he 
^iiake 
if  lie 
ke  as 
him 
'Uses 


I  pretend  not  to  say  how  iinieli  our  eliiuale  inHuenced 
the  eloquence  of  Col.  Baker,  or  what  it  did  for  the 
pro^,'  ss  of  such  men  as  Grant.  jNIcClellan.  Sheridan  and 
Jo.  Hooker;  for  all  of  these  men  once  lived  in  Oregon, 
and  stmie  of  them  I  believe  were  about  as  j^ood  fio-ht- 
ing  men  as  you  had  in  the  Union  Army.  [Apphiuse.) 

1  have  told  you  that  the  Pacific  ('oast  is  reinarkabl}' 
healthy — 1  will  now  say  that  it  Is  the  healthiest  part 
of  the  United  States:  and  1  am  troimi;  to  i)rove  it.  I 
was  down  in  Arkansas  not  long  ago.  This  is  one  of 
the  delightful  southern  states,  which  newspaper  writ- 
ers and  speculators,  want  you  to  go  down  and  settle 
in.  to-be  ha])py  and  (i,et  rich.  I  shall  not  stop  to  tell 
you  of  the  gnats  and  mosipiitos  that  swarm  there;  of 
the  stories  that  ])eo])ie  told  me  about  having  to  build 
fires  in  the  Mississipf)i  bottom  to  make  smoke  their 
cattle  could  stand  in.  to  ward  off  "the  dod  rotted  flies" 
in  the  day  time,  oi'  of  the  charactei'  of  the  people  you 
are  invited  to  settle  amoiiu'.  I  have  a  word  to  sav 
about  the  climate,  and  avei'age  mortality  there. 

1  find  by  examining  meteorological  tables  kept 
for  the  (Jovernment  l)v  Dr.  Smith,  who  lives  be- 
tween the  Kod  and  Washita  Rivers,  that  the  climate, 
though  not  intensely  cold  in  winter,  is  liable  to  vcny 
sudden  and  disagrcnble  changes.  For  histance — the 
fust  of  December  ISV,).  they  had  a  thunder  shower. 
The  air  wa.  murky  and  wai'ui  ;  the  thermometei' 
standiu"' at  74".  The  next  da\"  the  thermometei'  stood 
at  '2C)'\  and  the  rain  froze  as  fast  as  it  fell.  On  the  tenth 
of  the  same  month  the  thermometer  stood  at  sunrise 
at  24",  an<l  at  2  o'clock  P.  M.  at  ")4" — showing  a  change 
of  oO"  in  a  few  hours.  On  the  twenty  third,  it  stood 
at  8"  in  the  morning,  and  at  .".4"  at  two  P.  M.  These 
sudden  changes  are  not  exceptional  ones — such  are 
fiiMjuently  occuning. 


24 


1  tiiid  ill  comparing  the  rates  of  mortality  in  this 
state  with  that  of  others  for  the  same  jieriod,  that, 
Arkansas  fnrnishes  more  victims  to  the  (Irim  Monster, 
in  proportion  to  its  population  than  any  other  state  in 
the  Union — while  Massachusetts  isn't  very  far  l)ehin(l 
it.  The  deaths  in  Arkansas  in  LSGD,  were  at  the  rate 
of  one  person  out  of  every  forty  eight.  Massachusetts 
and  Louisiana  which  tread  close  on  the  heels  of  Arkan- 
sas, lost  one  in  57.  Illinois  and  Indiana,  one  in  (S7. 
Kansas,  one  in  68.  Vermont,  the  most  favored  State 
this  side  the  Kockv  Mountains  lost  one  in  02.  Califor- 
nia  lost  one  in  101.  Oregon  one  in  172  and  Washing- 
ton Territory  one  in  22(S. 

You  see  the  immense  difference,  in  favor  of  our 
coast  at  a  glance.  The  difference,  is  really,  much 
greater  than  the  figures  niake  it;  for  very  many  incur- 
ably sick  people  have  gone  there  in  hopes  of  recover- 
ing from  old  chronic  complaints,  your  doctors  over 
here  were  not  al)le  to  cure.  Infirmity  on  crutches,  has 
been  constantly  hobbling  out  among  us.  Many  of 
these  diseased  people,  have  been  cured  by  the  climate, 
many  others  have  died.  Fewer  of  these  diseased  un- 
fortunates have  reached  Washington  Territory  than 
California  and  Oregon :  consequently  it  has  the  advan- 
tage of  us  in  the  figures,  though  no  more  healthy, 
than  the  states  south  of  it. 

I  have  also  stated  that  we  have  a  great  advantage 
over  the  Atlantic  Slope,  in  having  fewer  high  winds 
and  no  hurricanes.  In  the  last  twenty  one  years,  we  have 
only  had  three  winds  moving  at  the  rate  of  45  miles  an 
hour,  with  a  force  of  ten  pounds  to  the  square  foot.  In 
Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  and  Connecticut,  the 
Government  reports  from  eleven  stations  where  obser- 
vations were  made,  show  that  in  thirty  months,  there 
were  four  winds  of   45  miles  velocity  and  ten  pounds 


I 


sssmmm 


L'-) 


])<)Wt'r;  and  two  winds  of  (lO  miles  velocity  and  eijj,-lit- 
eeii  ])ounds  jiowor. 

At  eleven  stations  in  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan,  Iowa 
and  Wisconsin,  the  reports  show,  that  during  twenty 
six  months,  there  were  twenty  five  winds  of  45  miles 
velocity,  two  winds  of  7-')  miles  velocity,  and  two  hur- 
ricanes of  a  velocity  of  1)0  miles  an  hour.  The  force 
of  these  frinditful  winds  is  not  u'iven,  after  it  exceeds  GO 
miles  an  hour.  1  su|)[)Ose  the  Government  observers, 
were  running  down  cellar  al)out  that  time,  holding  their 
liiiJ!'  on  their  heads  witii  both  hands.  [Laughter] 

Now  if  the  pericds  (hning  which  these  observations 
were  made,  afford  a  fair  average,  and  I  judge  they  do, 
while  in  twenty  one  years,  we  have  had  in  Oregon 
three  fort}  live  mile  winds,  in  Massachusetts,  Rhode 
Island  and  Connecticut,  tliey  have  had  twenty  lour, 
such  winds,  and  sixteen  winds  of  sixty  miles  velocity. 
This  avera<2:e  wonhl  also  for  the  same  time,  <>:ive  llli- 
iioi<,  Indiana,  Wisconsin,  Iowa  and  Michigan  two  hun- 
dred and  twenty  live   foity  live  mile   winds,   eighteen 

of  seventy  five  miles,  and  eighteen  of  ninety  miles 
velocity. 

Have  vou  ever  read  of  those  hurricanes  out  there, 
that  level  brick  buildings,  blow  a  chew  of  tobacco  ont 
of  a  man's  mouth,  [Laughtei']  and  nearly  shear  the 
wool  from  the  sheep?  [Applause]  If  you  haven't  J 
have,  !ind  have  seen  them  too.  [Laughter]  And ,  yet 
some  men,  in  starting  west  to  seek  the  pronnsed  land, 
stop  and  settle  in  tliis  country,  just  as  the  leek  and 
onion  eating  Jews,  fell  in  the  wilderness,  before  reach- 
ing Caanan.  They  find  it  a  pretty  good  corn  country, 
and  C(mclude  to  stop  and  go  to  raising  hogs.  It  i.s  a 
good  count ly  to  raise  hogs  in,  but  rather  a  poor  coun- 
trv  to  raise  children  in.  A  countrv  where  the  niii'hts 
are  hot  enough  to  make  great  corn,  isn't  just  the  coun- 

1 


2r; 


tiv  to  make  Liical  nu-ii  in.  [Applause.]  While  the 
great  iMissis,<ip])i  valley  is  turning  out  large  hogs  we  in- 
tend to  see  Avhat  we  can  do  in  the  wa}''  of  supplying 
the  world  with  great  men. 

I  have  told  you  we  generally  have  a  great  deal  of  rain 
in  the  winter  in  Oregon,  and  sometimes  we  have  cold 
weather.  We  not  unjreciuently  have  winters  that  are 
exceptions  to  this  I'ulo.  Last  winter  1  was  not  in  Ore- 
gon, but  I  learn  from  a  pamphlet  just  issued  ))y  the 
"  Oregon  Agricidtiu-al  Society"  that,  according  to  a 
record  ke])t  hy  Mr.  Dufur,  near  Portland,  it  was  one 
of  our  mild  winters.  During  November,  December. 
January  and  February,  there  were  onlv  eioht  continu- 
ous  rainy  days;  ibity-two  days  that  were  variable 
and  r;eventy-three  clear  sunny  days.  There  w'ere  thir- 
teen frosts  and  not  snow  enough  to  wdiiten  the  ground. 
Only  Ibiu'  nights  made  ice  as  thick  as  a  pane  of  glass, 
and  in  February  the  bees  were  out  gathering  honey 
irom  the  Howers.  1  have  seen  some  winters  in  Oregon 
periiaps  with  fewer  fro.sts  than  this.  I  have  seen  green 
corn,  lettuce  and  greens  taken  from  the  garden  Christ- 
mas day,  when  melon  vines  were  yet  as  green  as  they 
were  in  July, — ^but  this  is  not  common. 

Our  common  school  system  is  good.  A  public 
school  fund  defrays  in  part  the  expenses  of  schools. 
A  majority  in  every  district  can  vote  a  tax  to  build  a 
scho'ol  house  and  pay  the  teacher.  In  many  places 
the  tax  is  voted  and  the  schools  are  free.  We  have  a 
great  many  ''Colleges"  scattered  over  the  state — most 
too  many.  We  have  no  prohibitory  liquor  law,  yet 
we  had  one  once,  long  before  such  a  law  was  enacted 
in  Maine,  or  any  where  else  in  the  United  States. 
Now  no  man  can  procm-e  a  license  to  sell  liquor  till  he 
obtains  the  signatures  of  a  majority  of  the  legal  vot- 
ers in  his  precinct  to  his  petition  (or  a  license.     Many 


'^hilo  the 
g's  we  in- 
Lipplviiig 

il  of  rain 
ive  cold 
that  are 
t  in  Ore- 

by  the 
iig  to  a 
vas  one 
ceniber. 
!ontinu- 
^ariahle 
^re  thii-- 
?rounfl. 
f  glass, 

honej^ 
Oregon 
i  green 
Ohrist- 
s  they 

public 
'hools. 
iiild  a 
places 
ave  a 
-most 

',  .yet 

noted 
tates. 
ill  he 
!  vot- 


fall  in  getting  these  sigiuitm-es,  lienee  there  are  many 
sections  in  which  there  is  no  liquor  solil. 

OiU'  wild  game,  consists  of  elk,  bear,  deer,  rabbits, 
coon,  squirrels,  swan,  geese,  brants,  ducks,  grouse,  par- 
tridges, (|uails,  sage  hens,  and  several  other  kinds  ol' 
birds.  Ourniountain  streams  abound  in  speckled  trout, 
while  in  the  Columbia  l^iver,  and  in  nearly  all  the  riv- 
ers emptying  into  the  sea,  vast  quantities  of  salmon, 
sturireon.  smelt,  and  sonu'  other  kinds  of  fish  are  cauii'ht. 
At  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia,  the  salmon  are  of  a  su- 
perior quality,  and  the  supjily  is  unlimited.  If  you  go 
to  Oregon,  and  bake  one  of  these  large  salmon,  and 
you  don't  get  a  quartof  oil  in  your  bake  pan,  you  just 
send  f)r  me  and  1  will  agree  to  eat  it.  The  land 
around  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  is  much  of  it  moun- 
tainous, yet  the  clhuate  is  mild,  and  the  soil  is  produc- 
tive. I  consider  it  the  best  grass  land  in  the  state. 
Stock  here  is  seldom  if  ever  fed  in  the  winter,  yet 
this  part  of  the  state  is  but  little  settled.  The  land 
has  been  surveyed,  but  the  Pi-esident  has  never  to  my 
knowledge  issued  his  proclamation  throwing  these 
lands  into  market.  Here  are  exhaustless  quarries  of 
stone  from  which,  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Columl)ia, 
they  are  manufacturing  hydraulic  ceuient,  said  to  I)e 
of  a  superior  quality. 

[  lately  travelled  much  through  the  State  of  Maine. 
[  saw  farmers  everywhere  toiling  all  summer  to  (ill 
their  barns  with  hay.  so  that  they  could  work  all  winter 
in  feeding  it  out  to  a  handful  of  stock.  The  nuigni- 
tude  of  the  haymows,  coin])ared  with  the  haudfulls  of 
stock,  expected  to  eat  it  up  before  spring,  lilled  me  with 
amazement.  I  told  the  farmers  up  there,  that  I  thought 
vaisinc  stock  in  Maine  was  rarher  a  hard  way  to  serve 
the  Lord.  I  refen-ed  to  my  statistics  again,  and  began 
to  !i'.>MU'!'  for  them,  a-:  uoik' of  them  that  I  saw  liadauy 


any 


# 


28 

the  same  year  pro.hico.I  •>6  4      ,  /  '"'I''     "'•<^'«"» 

to  207.02.5  I.cai  of  ..to  kir     ■ 'r?''  "^  ''^'>-'  ""''  ^'lit 
<""■  l.orscs,  cattle,  ,m,l  ,hoen  .    '°''\""'^'  •!■"«'  '"^''•e  tliat 

;'ythe,.est.,toek„f^v^2;,,:;,ro""J^''  '"'•'-' 
""■"'  •'..niu.i  fiiirs  are  „  ,Tc.,m        i         "'    "'"  ■■'•''•'■«"'■ 

I"M..ine,ench,.n™„leo      „     ,°'^"""^ 
l>o<nK).s  of  l,av.  a.-ainst  1 1'"""'  ""  ""  '"'^''••so  2.1  n; 

Calling  tl,is  LnvC;  ,  0  ,       "''r?,"-^''""^''  '"  "'-^'O"- 

of  wmteringan'nnim     i"  A  °""''^'  "  '""'  ♦'"■■  ™«t 

59  ot^,     Ti  """  ™"io  "•a.'<  #fi  .5!)     t„,i, 

"•ere  worth  $15.437.5.5.a_or^l-  '.?°"?'-'"'  ""'"''■■'^ 
'"  Oregon  was  worth  $0.2;2.S9t_;: Iri',    '^''-  •""* 
-'Pi>o..ng  tins  ..toek  to  have  b'een    1^        '^"■"^''-    ^°''- 
'■-•<Iy  for  niarket.     The  cost  o     "!''^°>-^"''^  «!''-  ""'I 
Maine  worth  §17..34,  was  §197/  '^7'^  ""  ^"'-"^^  in 
oneni  Oregon,  worth   ^n/r,  ^''«  ^o^t  of  rai.sh.g 

.-at  ...re  Orego.f:nt2a:;,^7^' ^.-^'r  ^'^^ 
nem  Maine   was   <i^2.4.S      P.  r.  The  Jo.^.s  on 


one 
iHal.s  in  0 


ic 


$243.     If  I  .should 


gon  $2,172,    Lo 


Pro/it 


•s.s  on 


'^n  one  IiuiKlrod 


till 


lousnio.,  f^_.e,] 


'n.2r,  cle; 


■^'0  info  noconnt  th 


one  hundred  in  Mi 


ani- 


uue 


e  tniie  nscd 


ft-'d  in  Maine  the  bal 


'»'"g  ^tahle.,  etc.,  ami  ,h 
i»ce  would  he  niucl 


in 


e  LTahi 


iii'cs  to  s 
G 


"Pport  it  who 


'•^  •statement,  ^-itl 


'  gi'oater  in 


our 


overninent  made  the  fiiT 


reot.     S 


the 


ome  of  the  M; 


^vould  have  believed 
'Hid  I  believe  tl 


1 1  res 


«iit  the  fi( 
it?    Tl' 


le 


y  made 


line  men  w 


H'vareeor- 


t'iej'  fell  beh 


"P  HI  the  value  of  h 


^^'^"  inclined  to  think 


J  found  thi 
her  ho 


ind 


on  .-took.  On  ref 


ome  maniiihet 


'''i(-'-S  what 


'^  '"  1^00  Maine  had  t\ 


^i-ni^  to  m  V  statistic 


"laiuifiict 


0111  the 


'"•^>^' gardens  and  orchard 


pi'oduct 


>s   01 


'^1.72  t 


o 


# 


cat'Ii  niiUi,  womiuiimd  cliild  in  tin-  Slate  wliik-  (>rcL''<in 
liiul  from  tlio  saiii(>  somci's  s  I  !.'»7.  Maiiu'  piodiiciMl  lo 
e.'icli  pei'M)!!  ill  tlit'Siate  I  1.7  (|i:arts()t'  wlicat — Ori'uou 
produced  l-l.V  bushels.  In  Illinois.  Indiana  and  Iowa, 
the  discrepancy  is  not  (pnte  so  _i;i'eat ;  but  1  can  lake 
tile  figures  and  show  that  the  cost  of  raisiuii'  stock  in  all 
these  states,  exceeds  the  value  ol'  it  when  raised.  From 
these  Ii(i:ures,  vou  will  readiiv  see  whv  New  Enuland 
['urnicrs  wlio  work  hard  and  hardy  live,  i^eneiady  make 
ii  better  livimi;  and  Lict  licli  when  they  u'o  to  Oreu'on. 
These  facts  will  sci've  in  part  to  show  why  the])rices 
of  labor  rule  much  higiicr  on  our  Coast  than  here.  The 
Califoi'nia  Labor  Kxchan^e  went  into  o])eration  the-!'.Uh 
of  April  JS-jS.  The  first  of  last  June,  the  secietary  re- 
ported that  they  had  ali'eady  received  S'iOcS  orders  call- 
for  19.500  men.  ( The  exchan^^e  has  n(>thing  to  do 
with  Chiiianum.)  The  society  had  sui)plied  14.()()2  men 
and  4.021  female  laborers.  The  demand  for  tenuile 
domestic  service  waslargely  in  excessoj' the  su[)piy  and 
all  kinds  of  labor  had  for  months  been  steadily  risino- 
in  value.  The  demand  for  men  was  principally  for  coiii- 
moii  laliorers,  farmers,  carpenters,  nnners,  blacksmiths, 
cooks,  hoys,  &c.  Of  the  prices  paid  in  gold  lor  lahor, 
the  repot  sa3'8 — 

"  Donuistic  servants,  wiio  only  ((.ir.niaiiil  alicaa  s-10  <  r  S.'O  a  yrar  in 
Great  13ritaiii  and  on  tlu^  contini'ut  n!'  l-.m-diic,  have  Ijccn  cii.ucily  tMiuai;t'il 
licre  at  tin;  rate  (if  s:i()  to  .S-)(i  jicr  iiiiinlli,  as  la-l  as  tliry  ]ia\v  iH'cicd. 
IJoy.s  (12  to  ](>  years  of  age)  for  li,^lil  wurl;  or  aiiin'ciitice.-liiii.  are  jiaiil 
from  ^I-  to  i^lTj  iier  nioiitli,  and  all  classes  ol  iii(lu>irions  iieix.ns  are  ['aid 
at  rales  whicli  wnuld  iml  at  all  lie  ciiN'itaincd  aiiy\\lieie  (lUl.-ide  the  I'aeil'ir 
States." 

Now  this  may  seem  strange  when  we  remember 
that  an  army  of  laborers  was  disbanded  upon  the  com- 
pletion of  the  racilic  liaihotid.  and  that  there  has  been 
ji  constant  stream  of  emigrants  pouring  over  the  moun- 
tains, in  wagons. 


and    on  the    raihoad.  while    tens  of 
thousands.  Imve  gone  out  bv  water.      Durinu-  the  nine 


months  prectHling  Octobor  l.Si>8,  tlie  two  liiu's  of 
steamers  riinnln<^  from  Now  York  to  8aii  Fi'Miicisco 
carried  out  over  sixty  tlioiisand  souls.  Every  out  going 
steamer  was  loaded  with  from  eight  to  twelve  hundred 
passengers.  The  ]):is,-enger  list  of  the  Pacific  mail 
Steamship  Company  alone  embraced  as  high  as  five 
thousand  names  a  month.  It  is  also  estimated  that 
over  one  hundred  and  seventv  five  thousand  Mon<i:oli- 
ans  have  already  reached  our  shores. 

You  may  ask  what  has  become  of  this  vast  throng 
of  people  many  of  whom  must  have  been  laborers? 

You  nuist  remember  that  they  are  building  up  an 
empire  out  there.  The  Labor  Exchange  report,  says 
that  the  army  of  laborers  discharged  at  the  completion 
of  the  Pacific  Kailroad  scattered  off  through  the  mines, 
or  found  work  on  other  railroads,  so  that  they 
afforded  no  i*elief  to  the  clamor  for  laborers,  as  was 
expected. 

The  women  who  go  out  there  to  teach  school  or  do 
housework  generally  change  their  minds,  and  get 
married;  [Applause]  as  in  Oregon  and  California 
there  are  about  7T,5U0  more  nudes  than  females. 

I  have  lately  been  informed  that  all  the  women 
taken  out  there  in  the  steamer  Continental,  by  Mercer, 
about  two  years  ago,  are  married  but  one.  About 
seventeen  hundred  of  us  married  men,  had  nuide  great 
calculations  on  getting  domestic  assistance  when  Mer- 
cers cargo  of  girls,  old  maids,  and  grass  widows  should 
arrive.      But    the  bachelors,    were  too  sharp  for  us. 

They  said  we  already  had  our  share  of  women,  and 
Mercer  s  girls  all  said  the  bachelors  were  right.  They 
voted  just  as  the  bachelors,  and  widowers  did,  and  we 
were  outvoted  two  to  one,  and  had  to  give  it  up.  A 
few  years  ago  Ex-Ctov,  Slade,  sent  out  to  Oregon,  a 
lot  of  female   school    teacliers.  from  thirty    to  foi'tv 


"A 


years  of  ngr.  Sladc  lliouiiiil  tlicv  wcw  ;ill  incorrigi- 
ble vestals,  and  ]iol)0(ly  over  here  snspieionerl  that  any 
of  them  had  ever  liiinkered  after  matrimony, — and  1 
have  no  reason  to  believe  they  ever  had.  They  all 
changed  their  minds  a1»out  the  time  the  first  qnarter 
of  their  schools  Avere  half  out. 

In  due  course  of  time,  one  Avas  married  to  ajndge, 
one  to  an  Episcopal  clergyman,  and  one  took  the  then 
Gov^ernor  of  Oregon.  The  last  one  of  them  got  mar- 
ried and  gave  up  teaching  other  peoples  children,  to 
go  to  nursing  their  own.  [Applans(>]  and  1  don't  blame 
them,  for  1  do  tbink  some  of  them  had  as  bright  little 
cherubs  as  1  have  seen  on  onr  coast.  How  can  we 
expect  that  the  demand  for  female  help  will  ever  be 
supplied,  when  we  have  neai'ly  eighty  thousand  more 
males  than  females,  and  the  demand  for  wives  is  so 
much  more  pressing?  Besides  girls  only  get  in  Ore- 
gon, from  $15  to  $30  a  month  for  doing  housework, 
seldom  as  low  perhaps  as  $15.  I  have  paid  a  woman 
$40  a  month  in  gold  for  doing  housewoi-k  and  was  glad 
to  get  the  help  at  that. 

Fellow  citizens  1  am  about  done  with  my  descri])- 
tion  of  the  Pacific  Coast.  I  have  misstated  no 
fact.  I  have  neither  exaggerated  or  given  to  any- 
thing a  false  color.  If  wdiat  I  have  told  yon  is  true, 
isn't  it  a  pretty  good  country?  It  isn't  Heaven — you 
can't  find  that  in  this  world,  every  s])ot  on  this  little 
anthill  that  we  call  earth,  has  its  drawbacks  and  imper- 
fections. Sickness  and  sorrow,  disappointments,  pains, 
and  tears,  woe  and  death,  are  incident  to  all  climes,  and 
all  countries.  But  there  is  as  much  dilTerence  in  conn- 
tries  as  there  is  in  anything  else.  Man  has  only  one 
life  to  live,  then  why  spend  his  days  in  the  bottom  of 
a  well,  when  he  can  just  as  well  dwell  on  a  hilltop?  If 
he  can  fi)id  no  paradise  on  this  earth,  why  not  locate 


jiisl  iis  m-iir  I  iK'^'iitesior  rienvon  its  ])()ssil)!t'?  [ApplaiiseJ 
'L\vLMit\- one  years  ji^jjo  last  March,!  started  IVoni  lUi- 
iiois  lor  Oregon,  willi  a  wife  and  two  little  ones — one 
three  months  old, and  tiie  other  three  years.  We  crossed 
thj  L^iain>!  In  an  ox  wagon  drawn  by  four  yoke  ol'  cattle. 
I  drove  the  team  when  well,  when  sick  my  wife  drove 
it.  We  were  six  months  to  a  dav  iiom  the  Missouri 
lliver  to  the  lii'st  house  in  Oregon.  During  the  whole 
time  we  weie  among  Indians,  without  seeing  a  white 
man's  dwelling.  We  ieiiied  North  Platte,  and  lorded 
every  other  river  on  the  route       We  tbrtled  Snake  Jiiver 

»■' 

twice  whei'e  it  was  nearly  a  mile  wide.  Atone  ot  these 
crossings  the  current  carried  a  team  oC  lour  yoke  of 
cattle  down  stream,  with  a  familv  in  the  wagon,  when 
hi  the  middle  of  .Snake  Kiver.  This  team  was  next  to 
my  wau'on  In  which  I  carried  luv  own  household  u'ods. 
We  lorded  many  ra[)Id.  rocky  and  dangerous  streams 
where  we  had  to  raise  our  wagon  beds,  half  way  up  to 
the  top  of  the  standards.  Sometimes  the  roaring  wa- 
ters would  run  over  the  hacks  of  our  small  sized  oxen, 
and  come  near  turning  the  wagons  over.  In  crossing 
some  of  these  streams,  children  would  cry  and  women 
cover  up  their  faces  and  scream. 

Not  a  soul  in  onr  compan^^  died  on  the  way,  or  was 
killed  by  Indians,  as  many  were  that  came  after  us.  I 
passed  over  ground  on  Snake  liiver  in  my  late  trip 
across  the  continent,  w  here  a  whole  company  of  men 
women  and  children  were  massacred  in  1857;  their 
wagons  were  burnt,  the  w^agon  tires  rolled  down  the 
preci])ice,  and  the  dead  bodies  thrown  after  them.  Their 
bones  were  still  bleaching  on  the  rocks  below. 

Our  troubles  were  of  a  dilferent  kind.  Our  cattle 
became  almost  as  wild  as  the  buflalo  that  thronged 
the  road.  We  had  many  a  terrible  stampede.  Some- 
times the  whole  train  of  forty  wagons,  would  diish  off 


•  I  > ) 

■  )•) 


in  an  instant  and  our  catllf  vwu  liki'  Imtliilo  willi  liidi- 
an>'al'tt'r  thoni.  Durln*::  these  stanipcfles  wa<r()ns  wore 
turnofl  ovei*,  men's  legs  were  broken,  and  many  oxen 
fiad  their  horns  knoeked  off  elose  to  their  heads,  hv 
I'allin'i'  and  being  (b'agged  by  tiie  rest  o("  tlie  team. 

\Vr  liad  one  .staiiiiMilc  tliiit  I  sli.ill  ik'Vcm'  tup.'ct.  It  wiis  on  ii  nai'i'ow  ri(li;p 
ov  backliDiip  of  Hear  Kivcr  .Mountain.  'I'licrc  was  a  yawning'  prcciijii't'  a 
few  steps  to  tlie  right  of  us.  Another  as  ni'ar  to  tlic  k'f't  of  ns,  and  only  lialt 
a  mile  ahead  of  us  the  road  led  down  tlie  mountain,  so  steep  that  the  descent 
could  only  he  inaile  liy  i-ough  locking  hoth  hind  wh(>els  of  the  wayon.  My 
wile  and  I  were  walkins;  wlieii  I  saw  the  tiain  hehind  me  coming  thunder- 
ing over  the  rocky  road.  I  barely  had  time  to  sprint;  into  my  wagon,  where 
lay  my  two  little  ones,  both  sound  asleep.  Away  wont  my  team.  One  of 
my  oxen  broke  his  yoke,  and  ran  oH' to  tlie  right,  leaving  me  three  yoke  and 
a  half,  running  like  crazy  bulfalo. 

I  wa:;  morally  cei  tain  that  my  cn>/y  team  would  run  oH  the  precipice,  in 
which  (Nise  there  wouldn't  liave  been  a  whole  spoke  in  a  wagon  wheel,  a 
sound  bone  in  an  ox,  or  life  in  either  of  my  inecioiis  bal)i;s.  I  thoiiglit  I 
might  possibly  save  one  child  by  Jumping  out  of  tli(>  wagon  with  it.  Three 
times  1  reached  back  to  lay  hold  of  it,  and  three  times  the  wagon  sliiick  a 
rock  and  hounded  so  that  I  tailed  to  reach  it.  I  Ihen  thouglit  that  Jleaven 
intended  I  should  save  all.  I  jinnpod  from  my  wagon. iind  succeeded  l)y 
liammering  my  tongue  cattle  over  tli(^  head  with  the  but  of  my  wliip  in 
stopping  the  team  just  as  they  reached  the  very  l)row  of  the  mountain, 
where  my  cattle  stood  and  gazed  down  the  frightful  declivity. 

I  don't  think  that  I  am  a  coward,  and  1  am  not  aware  that  I  wa«  over 
afraid  of  tlie  face  of  clay,  white  or  rod  ;  Itut  I  must  acknowledge  that  I  be- 
lieve I  turned  white  then. 

Our  cattle  stampeded  wlien  yoked  up,  and  they  were  being  watched  by 
herdsmen.  ^lany  ran  oiriii  the  yoke  that  we  never  saw  again.  They  often 
stampeded  in  tlie  night, and  once  over  four  hundred  head  were  oveitaken 
the  next  day  nearly  forty  miles  from  camp,  having  travelled  this  whole  dis- 
tance through  an  alkali  plain  without  grass  or  water.  We  lost  so  many 
cattle  this  way,  that  many  wagons  were  left  in  the  wilderness.  We  cut 
other  wagon  boxes  down  to  eight  feet  in  length,  and  threw  away  such  arti- 
cles as  we  could  spare  in  order  to  lighten  our  loads,  now  too  heavy  for  the 
weak  and  jaded  cattle  we  had  left.  Some  men's  hearts  died  within  them, 
and  some  of  our  women  sat  down  by  the  roadside  a  thousand  miles  from 
settlements  and  cried — saying  they  had  al)andoned  all  hopes  of  everircaching 
the  promised  land. 

I  saw  women  with  babes  but  a  week  old,  toiling  up  mountains  in  the 
burning  sun  on  foot  because  our  jaded  teams  were  not  able  to  haul  them 
(Sensation.)  We  went  down  mountains  so  steej)  that  we  had  to  let  our 
wagons  down  with  ropes.  My  wife  and  I  carried  our  children  up  muddy 
mountains  in  the  Cascades  half  a  mile  high,  and  then  carried  the  loading  of 
our  wagon  up  on  our  backs  by  piecemeal,  as  our  cattle  were  so  reduced 
that  they  were  hanlly  able  to  haul  up  the  empty  wagon. 


inwKwn.- "» 


34 


At  Iciif^tli  our  six  nioiitlis  (il'toll  and  Jaiigcr  were  uvi-r.  Wf  drove  up  to 
the  door  of"  tlif  lirst  hoimo,"  ill  llic!  Willaiiittte  valify.  We  wen-  liagKard 
and  loll  worn.  My  wife  then  wei^lied  a  inindred  and  ten — she  now  weighs 
two  lmn(h-ed  pounds.  (ApplauHc.)  My  wa;,'(»n  cover  on  whicli  was  painted 
the  Ainerii'iin  Eat^le  ;  under  wiiich  was  inscrilied, "  Westward  the  Star  of 
Empire  inal<es  its  way,"  was  torn  into  shreds.  Our  faces  were  iiterally 
peeled  liy  the  alkali  of  the  saf;e  plains.  We  lurgot  our  troubles  when  we  had 
Imiit  our  lir(!  l»y  the  roadside,  and  begun  to  roast  potatoes.  The  dear  little 
pi^s  sipiealed  around  otu-  camp  tire,  tlie  cocivs  crowed,  and  the  hens  cackled. 
I  thought  it  was  the  sweetest  music  I  had  ever  heard. 

The  (irst  winter  we  built  a  small  log  cabin,  with  a  roof  all  sloping  one 
way  to  live  in.  It  smoked  terribly,  l)ut  we  were  happy.  We  boiled  peas  for 
breakfast,  dinner  and  supper;  and  ate  them  on  tin  plates.  We  browned 
them  for  tea  and  coffee,  and  drank  it  in  tin  cups,  without  sugar  or  milk. 
All  the  crockery  there  was  for  sale  in  Oregon  was  one  set  of  cups  and  sau- 
cers in  Oregon  City — price  ?<2..'>0.  I  had  oidy  ten  cents  in  money,  (and  that 
was  borrowed)  and  of  course  I  did'iit  buy  that  crockery.  The  neighbors 
rolled  up  a  small  log  house,  and  put  a  mud  chimney  in  it.  It  would  have 
been  a  capital  place  to  smoke  meat  in.  In  that  house  I  taught  school.  My 
left  boot  was  pretty  good— it  let  the  water  out  as  fast  as  it  got  in.  My 
right  boot  was  tninus,  excepting  the  leg  and  heel.  I  patched  it  out  with 
rawhide,  sown  on  with  buckskin  "whangs."  The  patch  had  to  be  put  on 
every  night;  but  beef  hides  were  ph  nty.  My  girl  pupils  dressed  in  common 
shirting,  colored  with  tea  groimds.  Many  of  tliem  went  baretbot.  My  boy 
scholars  dressed  in  buckskin  pants,  and  one  of  them  used  to  help  mend  my 
boot  every  night— he  called  it  "  poulticing"  it.  In  that  school  liouse  I  taught 
winters,  and  my  wife  taught  summei-s  while  I  either  worked  in  the  gold 
mines  or  on  the  farm.  Of  my  boy  scholars,  one  of  them  afterwards  turned 
out  to  be  the  editor  of  a  medical  journal.  One  became  president  of  a  col- 
lege. One  went  to  Congress  from  Oregon,  and  was  afterwards  by  Lincoln 
appointed  Chief  Justice  in  Idaho.  Another  is  the  present  Governor  of 
Oregon,  and  one  of  the  best  stump  orators  on  the  American  continent. 
(Applause.) 

Then  there  were  but  two  or  three  cabins  on  the  bank  of  the  river  where 
Portland  now  stands.  I  have  tied  my  cattle  to  a  tree  and  slept  on  the 
ground  by  the  side  of  my  wagon  in  a  dense  forest  of  tal!  timber,  where  you 
will  now  find  the  heart  of  Portland,  a  rapidly  growin^r  ci  y,  witli  its  eight 
thousand  inhabitants. 

Then,  no  steamer  had  ever  disturbed  those  western  waters.  The  Indians 
had  heard  of  them,  and  learned  that  they  were  commg;  and  I  have  seen 
them  standing  on  the  hill  where  .John  Jacob  Astor  built  his  first  fort;  and 
gazing  down  the  Columbia,  in  hopes  to  get  a  glimpse  of  the  coming  "fire  ships.' 
Now,  a  line  of  ocean  steam  ships  connects  with  San  Francisco  every  week. 
Portland  has  direct  trade  by  sailing  vessels  with  New  York,  tlie  Sandwich 
Islands,  Australia,  China,  and  perhaps  Liverpool.  About  forty  steamers  are 
running  on  the  waters  of  the  interior,  mostly  owned  by  tlie  Oregon  Steam 
Navigation  Company,  and  the  P.  T.  Company.  These  steamers  are  superior 
in  their  accommodations,  and  in  the  gentlemanly  conduct  of  their  officers— 
from  the  Presidents  of  the  Companies  down,  to  those  of  any  steamers  I  have 
found  on  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  rivers,  ov  the  northern  lakes. 


35 

l"''>:;i-<;s*  till,  cuinir,.,.  i  ^     '•     '  ''"\<'  ill>o  foM   v  ""^'"  «^- 

'^^  ^><3.-u  ,;;'';•..  '"'r'''"'" '''"•"•  which  1. 1.,  ,•,'', r*'^  "■"'  "■•'^•'' -^ i-i...ia- 

"•"'i">'^;  in  IS  ,    s^:  "  "■'"  '"  '•""""  "urnber«    ^^o,:     "    '"  "'""^^  '^  uni- 
ons; in    S4,  "•  ""'"""^-  '■»  '■^-'".  nino  „  '""'"^•" '"  ^'^"O-  'ive 

'-■'•ease  that  lias  h..|,l  ..     >  '*"''"-'^'«  "*'  --^-'J-    J  hol.l  n      '  ,     '  '^f'  ^''iHed 

so.inr^To     '^,   '"-''^^""'^'•^'•s'H-eniv   vears  will  '"  this  law  of  i„. 

y^^rs  i-^ce/t.:  jr;;;  :ir2;'^  """'o-^' a^r;:';!;  r^:  s^f  ^^ 

•"  t'-  wnlh.::;^  ^,;;:-^  --e  T<.,n  Moo.;  :  ^  :^;";^  «f  y  <-  ".ilhon, 
'•'••>-..  the  h.,.,  t  ;  '  P  '  .'"'"  ''"'  ••'  ^'"  t'n  .u.  h  wot  I  ^^'-^^  '"'S'"'-  C'ily  as 
'"-"•  i"  t'Hs  .  var  o„^r"  "'^  '""^'^-  ^VJ>a  "  „  i:,,"?  '  ;'"'  '^^^-"l-  'o  get 
i"  the  wood,   n    V  •■""'-'" ''"^"'    '^'''.'U  same  v  '  "^''^  ''''"'^  ''^^«" 

hiive  believed  thu  i.     •  ^'"'^  ^^""''1  'wve    thPn        ,  '   ''•^'i''o''>'ig 


"o'Uage,  cireii 


'"■»■-'  I'l't  Indians,  tl 


^>'-egon,"  where  Le«' 


piipers ; 
Ifth 


;l3-5l* 


;"'^"  l^'^'l  come  back  fVo,„  thei 
hem  mil- tl>....,   ..         .  ■'  i-uej 


i«  and 
'■'1  the  English 


daily 


iiews- 


Who  sent  them  out  there,  that 
0"  thj,tcjast,  in  ivh 


in 


lioii? 


'f.'  in  Lund 


,un 


"-•h  "i3i-chants  wo 


■•li'd  U.atagreat  hi,h 


,    ''J'>eai»,there  would  be  ciL 
■^^'•^  ^'^y  n-om  trudi 


•uld 


H't  news  e 

way  or  nations  wo'nlTJ 


rson 

cities 


'.le  o 


'pened 


36 


up  across  the  Continent,  on  which  sncn  woiijfl  travel  from  Occivn  to  Ocean 
in  six  liiiys,  Jctrcrsoii  would  have  believed  they  were  crazy,  and  that  their 
brains  had  been  injured  by  the  toils  and  sutlerings  they  had  endured  in  the 
snows  of  the  mountains. 

I  tell  you  to-iliiy  that,  tluMMtio  of  our  in:reas(>,  prosperity  and  glory  for 
the  next  sixty  years,  is  to  be  an  accelerated  one.  What  startling  and  benefi- 
cial developments  science  may  make  in  that  time  I  cannot  imagine,  as  I 
have  no  data  by  which  to  \\<nk  out  the  problem.  Men  may  go  round  the 
world  in  six  days  in  balloons,  for  anything  that  1  know;  taking  a  cold  lunch 
on  Mount  Hood,  boiling  their  coUee  at  the  crater  of  Mauna-Kea,  and  bring- 
ing home  ciuiosities  from  the  highest  peaks  of  the  Alps.  [Applause) 

1  hnce  data  however  for  the  conclusion  that  many  of  you  will  live  to  see 
Xew  York  rival  liOndon  ;  and  Boston  rival  Paris;  wlieu  Clucago  will  eclipse 
I'ekin;  and  when  there  will  be  cities  oi;  the  Pacific  Coast,  that  will  have 
more  wealth,  more  trade,  and  mcjre  population  than  Boston  has  to-day.  It 
was  long  after  I  was  born,  (and  I  am  nothing  but  a  boy  yet)  that  Boston 
built  a  railroad  out  to  (i)uincy,  just  three  miles  long.  It  cost  you,  exclusive 
1)1'  land,  wharf,  and  cars,  i?-!-!,!"))^.!)').  That  was  tlie  first  money  that  was 
ever  spent  on  a  railroad  in  the  United  JStates.  When  Davy  ("rocket,  ix-p- 
resented  in  Congress  the  district  I  once  lived  in  in,  West  Tennessee,  he  took 
a  trip  up  into  tlie  Yankee  nation  to  see  the  factories  of  Lowell,  and  the 
wonders  of  the  "  l£ub,"  He  mustered  up  courage  while  here  to  take  a  ride 
on  your  railroad.  When  he  got  back  among  tlie  natives  of  Obion  County, 
every  body  wanted  to  know  about  that  railroad — what  it  was,  and  what  it 
looked  like.  Davy  told  them  that  it  looked  to  him  "just  as  if tliem  Yankees 
up  in  Boston,  hail  got  hell  in  harness."  [Applause] 

If  he  had  lived  te  see  the  telegraph  wire  flashing  news  almost  around  the 
world,  while  ho  was  swallowing  a  glass  of  whisky,  he  woiUd  have  thouglit 
that  the  Yankees  had  got  Ilcucen  "  in  harness"'  too.  [Applause]  Fe  low  citi- 
zens, you  have  actually  lived  to  see  the  day,  wlien  the  three  worlds  are  "  in 
harness,"  and  liitcheil  to  the  golden  car  of  civilization  and  human  progress. 

Our  great  interior;  the  country  between  tlie  Kocky  Mountains  and  the 
Cascade  Kange,  and  stretching  from  British  America  to  Mex'  'o,  is  dotted  all 
over  witli  rich  nnnes.  Its  stock  raising  facilities  are  illimital)le;  as  most  of 
tiiis  vast  area  embracing  OOO.OOO  s-juare  miles,  is  covered  with  bttter  wild 
grass  than  grows  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  1  hold  that  this  great  inte- 
rior is  capable  of  sup|)lying  the  cities  on  both  seaboards,  ,,ith  beef,  butter 
and  wool ;  besides  supplying  the  world  with  a  circulating  medium.  Large 
tracts  of  this  count; y  have  been  by  many  considoied  worthless,  being  desti- 
tute of  water,  and  having  an  alkaline  soil  covered  with  sr-ge  brusli.  intelli- 
gent travellers,  such  as  Diike,  and  Baker,  tell  us  that,  in  A'geria,  Al)yssinia, 
and  Australia,  just  such  lands  becom»  very  productive  when  irrigated. 
They  assert  that  these  alkaline  lands,  when  v  atered,  niakt;  tlie  best  corn 
fields  in  the  world — that  under  irrigation,  the  more  alkali,  the  better  tht; 
corn  crop. 

The  sole  requisite  lo  devtiop  this  vast  intra-montaue  region,  is  water. 
This  will  be  supplied  by  artesian  wells,  and  by  means  of  dan-.s  and  dykes, 
which  will  be  made  to  husband  the  water  running  from  the  sno-.v-s  of  the 
mountains,  and  carry  it  over  barren   wastes,  which,  at  its  magic  t(Micli  will 


U 


v/ 


I' 


37 

smiJ«  with  corn  fields  an,l  i.     , 
n  licit  tins  coiintrv  iipprio  • 

»V  e  Iiave  got  to  liave  t/i 

Vvhat  we  most  wuif 

*ace  of  the  wnvWi        ,    .      *^'''''*'  the  sp hit  ^f  mm  >.  ,  '^Todoiice 

^'"ing  its  duty  to  i,s  „,  ,  '  ' '"  -<>vorn:r,ent  secures  its  .1  °"  "' 

small  oBlcf,  fori  «.,„  ,  ™''^«>»  '"  'Iran-  tl.orr  pava.i.l  ]„il,.,  ,       '"'  '"«■ 

"•<■  Stan  l,„vc  :;:)•.  7t  i  o    •"  '"'"'MliiBMH.    Wh„,  ,,,,  ^"^  ■'  '^"'mtain,,, 

-a.i  ..r  bo,,,„:4,',:,!:„f  "■■"«■ » -  ^-  ..,„„  :',::,,:;:;:,':;--■". 

""'■  l"1ilil,ili.,„.  I  liav,.  „„|,.  ,       ■     '"  '")■  '-"irnal,.  ,„■  ,,„.  ,.,„,. ,   . 

'juuuvoi.ui,,,,.,,,  ;;/''>  ■■»'™»'«'i'!..M„,,ajii,,,,i,,; ;■'■''■■  ""■'■■■••■*•-•  "!■ 
-%.'a«o„  „.„,„  „-  „,  '„    ;•«  '"•■ '»'  .-».■»  pr..„„:  :    ;;■« — 

l.RW.aK):  ajiil  lb,  ,1,;     '-'-""""fs  »-a,  -,.-,2,(Kjrj.    t,  """-  'Mu.oii,-  i,,,. 


38 


the  rest  ol  the  world  is  in  motion.  This  grey*,  beeliive  of  369.000.000,  for  the 
first  tiin(!  in  the  history  of  the  Avorld  has  begun  to  swarm.  They  are  crowd- 
ing tlirough  tlie  Golden  Gate,  entering  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia,  and  scat- 
tering tliemselves  over  all  our  mountains,  and  through  all  our  vallies.  They 
now  threaten  to  swarm  over  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  down  tlie  Atlantic 
Slope,  till  they  find  their  way  among  all  your  cotton  plantations.  Koopman- 
shaaf.  tlieir  great  John  Baptist,  or  forerunner  has  been  over  here  and  says 
they  are  coming. 

It  is  said  that  more  than  a  liundred  and  seventy-five  thousand  have  already 
reached  our  shores,  and  that  millions  more  are  coming.  In  vain  have  stump 
orators  In  Californiii  inveighed  against  them,  and  excited  tlie  populace  against 
them.  In  vain  have  political  conventions  tried  to  drive  back  tlie  swarm  by 
platform  resolves.  Phreusied  mobs  have  tried  to  beat  back  tlie  combing 
wave  with  biickbats  and  "  shilalahs" — but  still  they  come.  Every  time  one 
is  knocked  on  the  head,  or  shot  down,  a  hundred  mount  over  liis  dead  body, 
and  press  on  towards  the  mines,  railroads,  toanytliingtliatotfers  clieap  labor 
The  unfriendly  legislation  of  the  whites,  the  unchristian  and  barbarous 
treatment  of  tlie  tax  gatherer,  and  the  rifle  and  tommahank  of  the  Indian, 
have  all  been  employed  against  John  Chinaman  hi  vain.  He  seems  in.pelled 
to  our  sliores,  by  a  spirit  that  in  moving  over  tlie  world  has  at  last  scaled  the 
Chinese  wall.  He  appears  to  nave  a  providential  mission  here  and  it  looks 
as  tliougli  it  was  manifest  destiny  tliat  he  should  come.  What  that  mission 
is,  and  Avhat  are  to  be  tlie  influences  of  this  new  element  upon  our  people 
and  institutions,  is  a  question  that  is  now  engaging  tlie  attention  of  states- 
men.   I  have  been  asked   this  question  by  honest  onqniriers  many  times. 

I  answer,  '  ^cand  still  and  see  the  salvation  of  the  Lord!"  If  Sambo 
choose?  to  talk  politics  and  run  for  ofllce,  John  Chinaman  must  take  his  p'ace 
in  the  cotton  fields.  [Applause.^  The  cotton  must  be  raised,  i  .1  raised  as 
as  cheap  as  possible.  The  clieapc  the  better  for  the  naked  poor  everywhere 
1  regard  this  wonderful  moving  upon  the  Cliinese  nation  as  providential.  It 
is  going  to  inaugurate  a  new  era  between  the  relations  of  intelligent  labor 
and  capital.  It  was  well  enough  to  try  to  reconcile  intelligent  men  to  their 
lot,  who  were  the  servants  of  capitalists,  when  we  had  no  other  labor.  But 
there  always  has  been  an  irrepressible  conflict  l)etween  brains  as  a  hireling 
and  tlie  capitalist, — perhaps  brainless — that  it  looked  to  for  its  daily  bread 
I  have  always  beliovi  -i  that  intellect  was  capital,  and  that  tlie  day  wouUl 
com'"  vhcn  intelligence  would  be  so  used.  [Applause.]  I  have  never  doubted 
but  what  there  were  higlier  mansions  fitted  up  for  intelligence,  than  the 
shanty  into  whicli  such  men  as  Abraham  Lincoln,  were  thrust  to  eat  and 
s'lcep  while  making  rails  for  him  who  had  more  money  than  they  had.  Tiiese 
mansions,  our  books  and  orators  have  been  silent  about,  as  they  have  gener- 
ally been  deemed  luiaginary.  They  are  not.  They  have  remained  pretty 
much  locked  up  it  is  true,  but  they  are  to  be  closed  no  longer — for  God  has 
sent  John  Chinam,an  over  here  with  the  keys  to  open  the  doors.  lie  seldom 
aspires  to  anything  higlier  thnn  to  work  for  small  pay.  lie  has  few  wants, 
and  he  is  industrious;  hence  he  seems  to  aim  at  notliing  higher  tlian  servi- 
tude, wliich  seems  to  be  his  normal  sphere.  He  is  quiet,  docile  and  tractable, 
and  as  he  leaves  his  women  behind  him,  he  does  not  endanger  society  here 
with  a  disagreeable  mixture  of  races.  If  our  Southern  planters  never  had 
any  female  slaves,  tlie  country  would  not  have  been  overrun  witli  mulattos. 


sV 


0 


— V 


\"/ 


.■)9 

Coa.„  l,j  a„,l  by.    «•,„„  „„,, ',  J  ?    ;■•:'  »'«l  'Viilwork  for  ,|,„,  „Zt 


Note. 


? 


-Onp»geU,f„rNeb,,;t„^;^— ~^- 


ys-   ^O^lC^m  m  TME.  ^EESS; 


.Mr   A<liiin-   treuttvl    liis  subject  in  a  masterly  manner,  his  twenty 
years  e\]»eri('noe  in  Oregon  givinj;  weiyht  to  arguments  that  would 
1)0  received    with    caution  as    coming    from   a  mere    adventurer. — 
:  Boston  Juitni'iL 

I       Cominj:  with  the  endorsement  of  the  leading  men  of  Jiis  State  as 

I  a  gentleman   of  the   highest   rejmtation.  and  fully  qualified  to  give 

reliable  and  valuable  information  in  regard  to  the  mineral  and  other 

resources  of  Oregon,  IMr.  Adams'  remarks  w(!re  peculiarly  interesting. 

The  lecturer  was   listened  to  with  evident  appreciation  and  was 

occasionally  applauded. —  Post. 

I       He  treated  his  subject  in  a  most  interesting  manner,  speaking  with 
'  an  experience  of  twenty  years. —  Tnirel/cr. 

Mr.  Adams  cert;unly  made  an  excellent  argument  to  induce  agri- 

:  culturists  to  emigrate  to  Oregon  and  the  I'acitic  Coast.     The  lecture 

is   full  of   interest,  containing  much  valuable  information  which  the 

most  modern  geoi<;raphies  ilo  not  afford. — Advertiser. 

i       The  lecture  was  replete  with  valuab'e  statistical  information  upon 

the  agricultural,  mineral  and  manufacturing  resources  of  the  Pacific 

I  Coast.     His  figures  relating  to  tire  products  of  agriculture  in  Oregon 

and  the   State  of  Maine    were  very    significant.     He    spoke  of  the 

•rreat  and  constant! v  increasing  de>>;and  for  labor  that  existed  alone 

the  shores  of  the  racific,  and  in  tiiis    connection    gave  to  the  young 

ladies  of  New  Kngland  a  mos*^   '.ressing    invitation    to  emigrate,  by 

saying  that  such  was  the  condition  of  atfairs  there  that  it  was  almost 

impossible  ft)r  a  young  lady  to  pitch  her  tent  without  securing  a  good 

husband.    Th"  lecture  was  quit(i  well  received  by  all  present. — Herald. 

^Ir.  Adams  jjroved  to  the  satisfaction  of  his  audience  that  he  was 
not  drawing  ui)on  his  imagination  in  describing  the  wealth  and  beauty 
of  the  country;  his  statements  were  not  an  exaggeration  of  frjts, 
but  a  truthful  (lescrit)tion  of  a  country  yet  unexplored  and  unknown 
save  by  a  few.  He  was  listened  to  with  the  most  profound  attention, 
and  his  remarks  were  frequently  interrupted  by  bursts  of  applause. 
He  introduced  .•^uUicient  humor  into  his  lecture  to  make  it  anuisinir 
as  well  as  instructive,  and  (arrii'd  his  audience  with  him  over  cra^jrv 
mountains,  through  rich  and  fertile  valleys,  led  them  up  the  wooded 
banks  of  sparkling  streams,  displayed  to  their  gaze  meadows  of  rich 
pasture,  fields  of  golden  gi'ain  and  orchards  ripe  with  luscious  fruit. 
He  hit  very  severely  the  young  man  of  the  period,  with  the  low- 
necked  shirt  and  diamond  ])in,  and  showed  that  the  rich  country  was 
not  for  him,lHit  foi'  the  hardy  son  of  toil  who  woidd  find  comfort  and 
/  aT^  plenty  in  exchange  for  his  labor. — News  and  Tribune.  ^/ 


